One day after a Texas woman was arrested for allegedly smuggling six undocumented men into Florida, another man was caught along the same stretch of I-75 in Brooksville allegedly smuggling another man into the state.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) just after 6 p.m. on May 24, Troopers pulled over a Nissan Pathfinder SUV speeding southbound on I-75 near mile marker 302. During the traffic, stop Troopers identified the driver as 30-year-old Vicente Temoxtle-Quiahue who told Troopers that he did not have a valid driver’s license, but did produce a Mexican passport.
Troopers also discovered the vehicle’s owner and her two children.
Another man later identified as 21-year-old Geronimo De Agua Garcia in the third-row seat concealed by the luggage.
Temoxtle-Quiahua said that he had picked up Garcia in Greeley, Colo. and that Garcia had agreed to pay him $1,500 to drive him to Plant City.
De Agua Garcia told a U.S. Border Patrol Agent at the scene that he could not afford to pay Temoxtle-Quiahua the $1,500, but that the pair had agreed that De Agua Garcia would work off the debt once he arrived in Plant City.
The agent also learned that De Agua Garcia had previously been deported from the U.S. in November 2021.
He was taken into Border Patrol custody at the scene.
Troopers arrested Temoxtle-Quiahua. He was booked into the Hernando County Detention Center on one count of smuggling an illegal person into Florida.
