SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say a man has been arrested and charged with transporting an immigrant in the country illegally who died in his pickup truck while traveling from the U.S.-Mexico border to Los Angeles.
Federal authorities say a man and his son saw Efren Jimenez dragging a woman’s body in a remote stretch of Orange County Sunday and detained him, grabbed a cellphone from his pocket and called 911.
Homeland security agent Monica Abend wrote in court papers that Jimenez said he was hired to pick up two immigrants by a smuggling contact.
Abend says Jimenez told investigators the woman was limping when he met her and died during the trip.
U.S. attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek says 26-year-old Jimenez is not charged with her death.
Jimenez appeared in court but was not asked to enter a plea. The judge deemed him a flight risk and ordered him held without bail.
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