3 indicted in immigrant smuggling case

David Kihara

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.

Three men were indicted in federal court on Wednesday for allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico and harboring them in a house in Henderson, the U.S. attorney's office said on Thursday.

Jose Aguilar-Alcara, 25, Jose Huizar-Torres, 25, and Alejandro Perez-Ortiz, 22, are being charged with multiple counts, including harboring and transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico for financial gain, according to the indictment.

They were arrested on Aug. 24 after police received a report of the alleged smuggling operation.

The three men had been harboring the immigrants at a home in the 2600 block of Hourglass Drive near Eastern and Horizon Ridge Parkway while waiting to move them to a different location, according to the criminal complaint.

The complaint did not go into detail into why the immigrants were smuggled to America or what their ultimate destinations were but stated that at least one person was kept in the home against her will.

On Aug. 24, a neighbor called 911 and reported that a distraught 19-year-old woman with bruises on her arms had come to the neighbor's house seeking help.

The teen told authorities that she had paid smugglers about $2,300 to be brought into the United States on Aug. 21 through Phoenix, Ariz, according to the complaint.

She was allegedly moved to Las Vegas with 25 other illegal immigrants and was kept in the Henderson home while awaiting transportation to another destination, the complaint stated.

The woman alleged that Aguilar-Alcara prevented her from leaving the home and that he acted as the chief organizer of the operation, according to the complaint.

She described Aguilar-Alcara as "a dangerous man" and told authorities that others in the house saw him separate an El Salvadorian female from her baby, take her to the second floor of the house and "have his way with her," according to the complaint.

The 19-year-old previously offered Aguilar-Alcara $50 to be ferreted from the house, but he allegedly told her that she would not be leaving the home, according to the complaint.

The woman eventually escaped from the house when a door was left open. She then ran to a neighbor's residence for help, according to the complaint.

Efrain Perez-Ortiz, 14, was described as the enforcer of the operation who kept the immmigrants from going near windows or moving between floors, according to the complaint.

Perez-Ortiz allegedly admitted being involved in the smuggling operation and corroborated many of the facts told by the woman, according to the complaint.

The authorities transported Perez-Ortiz to a juvenile facility and he will be processed for deportation, according to the report.

Another individual, Huizar-Torres, also allegedly admitted involvement in the gang when interviewed by the authorities but said he was afraid of a Phoenix-based smuggling operation, according to the complaint.

The 19-year-old woman was the last of the smuggled immigrants left in the home on Aug. 24, according to the complaint.