An alleged human smuggler is in custody after being stopped by troopers from Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) on I-75 in Hernando County.
According to the agency, around just after 1 p.m. on Aug. 21, a FHP trooper spotted a GMC Savana Van traveling south in the center lane on I-75 north of SR 50 in Hernando County that had an illegally dark window tint and large windshield cracks obscuring the view of the driver.
After stopping the van on the road’s shoulder, the driver, identified as Raquel Lopez Aguilar, told the trooper that he had no valid driver’s license but showed him an identification card from Mexico instead.
Six passengers inside the vehicle also showed an ID from Mexico. They provided the name and date of birth of a small child also riding in the van.
Lopez Aguilar told the trooper that he and all his passengers were traveling from Georgia to Tampa. A later search of his pockets revealed several money transfer receipts that confirmed that Lopez Aguilar was in Calhoun, Georgia, on Aug. 20.
Checks by US Border Patrol Agents at the scene revealed that Lopez Aguilar had entered the country illegally after having been previously deported. Those checks also revealed that passengers Armando De Jesus Pablo Gonzalez, Jose Ezequiel Vazquez Sanchez, and Moises Lopez Nunez had all entered the U.S. illegally.
Another passenger, Omar Solis Lopez, was found to have previously committed a criminal offense in Georgia, had been deported and then illegally re-entered the U.S., and passengers Patricia Yazmin Garcia Zenteno and Adrian Solis Garcia had illegally come to the U.S. in May. Lopez Aguilar was subsequently arrested and booked into the Hernando County Detention Center on charges of smuggling illegal aliens.
