'Coyotes' caught with illegal aliens (Bainbridge Post-Searchlight)

'Coyotes' caught with illegal aliens

BY: TAYLOR SEAY
09/09/2008

Two men from Los Angeles, Calif., were arrested by Bainbridge Public Safety Friday, Sept. 5, after police learned they had smuggled two Hispanic men into the United States from Mexico and were holding the men in a van in Bainbridge.

According to incident reports, BPS Officer Patrick Bryant initially responded to an unknown problem call from a Hispanic male, Candelario Dominguez of 806 Water St. in Bainbridge. Bryant enlisted the help of Decatur County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Efrain Beltran to translate for the man, who did not speak English.

Dominguez told officers two men were holding his brother, Lorenzo Dominguez, and cousin, Jose Wilbur, in a vehicle in the Winn-Dixie parking lot and would not let him go until he paid them for bringing them into the country.

The officers located the van and took the four Hispanic men in the vehicle to BPS for questioning.

BPS Investigator Chris Jordan interviewed the two men, who said they were smuggled into the country.

They told the investigator that nearly 20 days ago, they were brought into the United States near Vista, Calif., by a "coyote"-a person paid to transport illegal immigrants across international borders.

They said they traveled with the two men, 32-year-old Julio Cesar Cauales and 31-year-old Antonio Lopez-Acevez, through California, Washington, New York, Atlanta and finally made it to Bainbridge.

Candelario Dominguez told investigators he had wired $650 to a third man in California so the men would bring his brother from Atlanta to Bainbridge.

When they arrived, their relative, Candelario Dominguez, did not have the $2,200 he was to pay to Cauales and Lopez-Acevez.

The two "coyotes" refused to release the two men without receiving their money so Candelario Dominguez called the police.

Cauales and Lopez-Acevez, both of Los Angeles, Calif., were arrested and charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Investigator Jordan said Lorenzo Dominguez and Jose Wilbur were released and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has been contacted involving the incident.