Federal authorities have charged a Guatemalan man arrested in Arkansas with transporting people who are in the country without legal permission. The Texarkana Gazette reports Isaias Elias-Pelico was transporting at least seven passengers when he was pulled over July 24.
Court documents state Elias-Pelico presented a fake driver's license to a trooper. The officer contacted the Department of Homeland Security.
Elias-Pelico and the passengers were taken to a federal immigration office in Texarkana. Authorities say his fingertips matched those of a Guatemalan man who had been stopped in the U.S. before.
A passenger tells police he paid Elias-Pelico and another man $600 to take him from Houston to Pennsylvania. He says he was going to pay another $350 upon arrival.
