DEL RIO – Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Troopers working Operation Lone Star recently discovered 17 illegal immigrants being smuggled inside a hidden compartment in a cloned home improvement store delivery truck during a traffic stop in Kinney County.
Early in the morning on Friday, Aug. 30, a DPS Trooper conducted a traffic stop on what appeared to be a Lowe’s Home Improvement Store delivery truck on US-277 outside of Del Rio. During the stop, the Trooper saw discrepancies with the driver’s travel itinerary and noticed the driver demonstrating strange behavior. After the driver consented to a vehicle search, Troopers went inside and located a false compartment in the truck’s cargo area. Troopers then used breaching tools to gain access to that compartment, and discovered 17 illegal immigrants crammed inside the three-foot-wide space with no air ventilation.
The group of 17, including four females and 13 males from Columbia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, were quickly removed from the false compartment and several were treated for dehydration. Then, all 17 were referred to Border Patrol.
The driver, Cezanne Megel Patterson, 28, of Jackson, Miss., was arrested and charged with smuggling of persons with the likelihood of serious bodily injury or death. He was transported to the Val Verde Processing Center.
### (South Texas Region)