A LAPD officer and a second person were charged by federal prosecutors Monday with trying to smuggle a Mexican citizen into the United States, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Officer Carlos Curiel Quezada Jr., 34, and Angelica Godinez, 31, were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Saturday evening when they drove a white 2014 Nissan Juke through the Otay Mesa border crossing, the Times reported.
Quezada and Godinez showed officials their passports said they were going to Mission Hills, according to the federal charging document. However, when the car scanned at a secondary inspection point, officials noticed something unusual in the vehicle's trunk. They opened it to find 26-year-old Antanasio Perez-Avalos hiding in the spare tire compartment, according to federal prosecutors.
Perez-Avalos "is a Mexican citizen with no legal ability to enter the United States," U.S. Customs officials said.
Quezada and Godinez have been charged with bringing a person into the U.S. without presenting them to an appropriate immigration officer at a port of entry, according to the criminal complaint. Both have pleaded not guilty, with Quezada's bail set at $20,000.
Quezada has also been placed on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation by the LAPD, the Los Angeles Times reported Officer Rosario Herrera as saying. Herrera added that Quezada was stationed with the department's Hollywood Division.
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