TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A U.S. Forest Service employee has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of smuggling immigrants who were in the country illegally.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that conspiracy and smuggling charges against 35-year-old Juan Antonio Corella accuse him of using a Forest Service truck on Jan. 8 to pick up three migrants on a road about 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of Douglas, a community on the U.S.-Mexico border.
A Feb. 4 affidavit by a Homeland Security Investigations agent said that the truck with Forest Service markings and emergency lights stopped after making several u-turns and that the immigrants emerged by the brush and got in the truck after a rear door was opened.
Corella was initially released pending trial but that status was revoked after he was arrested in a Jan. 30 incident in which he was accused of picking up five migrants on a personal vehicle from a stash house.
Jessica Turk, an attorney representing Corella, did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the allegations.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.