A Texas crime victim coordinator who was employed by the Starr County District Attorney's Office pleaded guilty to using a county vehicle to smuggle immigrants into the United States.
Bernice Garza pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to transport undocumented persons within the United States, according to a KRGV report.
Two others, Magali Rosa and Juan Antonio Charles, were also arrested in connection with the investigation and pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges, according to the report.
TEXAS CRIME VICTIM LINK ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY USING COUNTY-ISSUED CAR IN HUMAN Smuggling SCHEME
A 2015 Chevrolet Traverse with the emblem of the Starr County Prosecutor's Office in Texas. An office employee was fired after the car was used in a human trafficking scheme, authorities said. (Victoria County Sheriff's Office)
Garza was arrested in December 2022 after a traffic stop in Victoria County noted that the county-registered vehicle was making “numerous unauthorized trips to the Houston area,” according to the criminal complaint.
Magali Rosa was the driver of the vehicle, according to police, while Garza and Charles were among the passengers in the vehicle.
Police say Rosa tried to argue that Garza was the Starr County district attorney during the stop, although he later confessed to making more than 40 smuggling trips from Rio Grande City to Houston in the government vehicle.
houston skyline (Reuters/Richard Carson)
FOX NEWS CREW WITNESS DRAMATIC HUMAN Smuggling BUSTS BY TEXAS AUTHORITIES
“This investigation is an example that no one is above the law and that our office is taking swift action to root out public corruption,” the district attorney's office said in a statement after the arrests.
Garza was soon fired from the district attorney's office, while the four immigrants who were in the vehicle at the time of the stop were turned over to the US Border Patrol.
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Sentencing for Garza and Charles was set for September 28, the report notes, while sentencing for Magali Rosa is set for June 27.
