Border Patrol Stories
Lost Smuggler
Sometime in the early1980's, my partner, Agent Jones and I were working a mid-shift near Cotulla, Texas. As a rule, we worked I-35 near an area where HWY-57 from Eagle Pass, Texas ended (an area where we always caught something).
We would park our unit at the top where 57 merged back up onto I-35. The access road on the east side was a dead-end & usually only people who lived there would drive up the road.
As we sat there, we saw headlights coming but when it got to the access road on the eastside, it turned on to the dead-end road. We thought it was someone coming from a dance & heading home. But then we noticed headlights coming back and the vehicle, a pick-up truck, stopped at the intersection to 57 and waited.
Still, we didn't get excited as it could have been dropping someone off at home.
Then we saw the pick-up turn to come under the I-35 overpass and it came in our direction. But as we were getting ready to turn our headlights to see what we had, he pulled in behind us. A bit unorthodox so we figured it was anything but a smuggling case.
We exited the unit & met a man who said he needed help as he was new to area & was heading home. He thought he would ask us the best way to get to San Antonio to I-10 then to Houston. We talked for a few minutes and he said he better be on his way and he started to head back to his pick-up.
So, we said we would walk back with him, and he said not necessary. We said we were just sitting there and it would be nice to walk a little since it was a slow night.
He stopped again and insisted it wasn't necessary, but we said, “It's fine. Since we were out of the car anyway.”
We got to the pick-up, and lo & behold, he had 10 aliens in the truck!
The look on the guy's face was almost ash white. So, my partner drove the guy's pick-up while I followed in the unit with the driver & processed the case in the Frio County jail in Pearsall.
San Antonio’s AUSA accepted the case for prosecution. About 2 weeks later, we received a memo from the U.S. Attorney saying this case was unique much so, that we used up the probable cause of, the smuggler stopped to ask directions to Houston from the Border Patrol. One time is it with a smiley face.
We would park our unit at the top where 57 merged back up onto I-35. The access road on the east side was a dead-end & usually only people who lived there would drive up the road.
As we sat there, we saw headlights coming but when it got to the access road on the eastside, it turned on to the dead-end road. We thought it was someone coming from a dance & heading home. But then we noticed headlights coming back and the vehicle, a pick-up truck, stopped at the intersection to 57 and waited.
Still, we didn't get excited as it could have been dropping someone off at home.
Then we saw the pick-up turn to come under the I-35 overpass and it came in our direction. But as we were getting ready to turn our headlights to see what we had, he pulled in behind us. A bit unorthodox so we figured it was anything but a smuggling case.
We exited the unit & met a man who said he needed help as he was new to area & was heading home. He thought he would ask us the best way to get to San Antonio to I-10 then to Houston. We talked for a few minutes and he said he better be on his way and he started to head back to his pick-up.
So, we said we would walk back with him, and he said not necessary. We said we were just sitting there and it would be nice to walk a little since it was a slow night.
He stopped again and insisted it wasn't necessary, but we said, “It's fine. Since we were out of the car anyway.”
We got to the pick-up, and lo & behold, he had 10 aliens in the truck!
The look on the guy's face was almost ash white. So, my partner drove the guy's pick-up while I followed in the unit with the driver & processed the case in the Frio County jail in Pearsall.
San Antonio’s AUSA accepted the case for prosecution. About 2 weeks later, we received a memo from the U.S. Attorney saying this case was unique much so, that we used up the probable cause of, the smuggler stopped to ask directions to Houston from the Border Patrol. One time is it with a smiley face.
Lost Smuggler
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