A brazen people smuggling ring was brought to its knees yesterday with the arrest of two men in Seattle, Washington. Jesus Ortiz-Plata, 45, of Independence, Oregon, and Juan Pablo Cuellar Medina, 35, of Everett, Washington, were taken into custody in connection with a cross-border human smuggling scheme that saw victims locked in freight train cars traveling from Canada into the U.S.
The reckless smuggling scheme, investigated by Homeland Security Investigation’s Border Security Enforcement Team (BEST), saw non-citizens loaded into freight cars on trains traveling from Canada into the U.S. The defendants allegedly linked these individuals with a phone number later traced back to Ortiz-Plata, who was identified as the mastermind behind the operation.
According to court documents, law enforcement tracked Ortiz-Plata’s cell phone signal to an apartment in Everett, where he was followed and arrested with three non-citizens who had attempted to cross the border. Two of the individuals claimed to have crossed the border in a freight train car, while the third claimed to have walked across the border and been picked up on the U.S. side. Medina, the resident of the apartment, was identified as the person who had picked up one of the non-citizens after they crossed into the U.S.
“These defendants have allegedly been linked to an extremely dangerous smuggling scheme where people are loaded into freight cars on trains traveling from Canada into the U.S.,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. “Being locked in a freight train car is dangerous – there is no control over the heat, cold, or ventilation, and people can be injured or killed by shifting freight. In one dangerous instance last August, some 29 people were rescued from a boxcar filled with plastic pellets.”
Conspiracy to commit illegal transportation of a non-citizen for private financial gain is punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ortiz-Plata and Medina made their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Seattle yesterday and are being held pending trial.
The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Border Security Enforcement Team, U.S. Border Patrol, and Border Patrol Air and Marine Group. Assistant United States Attorney Celia Lee is prosecuting the case.
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Key Facts
- State: Washington
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Human Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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