(The Center Square) – A year-long investigation into a border smuggling operation led by Goliad County Sheriff Roy Boyd and his Operation Lone Star Task Force has resulted in the takedown of several individuals allegedly involved in human smuggling activities.
The Center Square accompanied Boyd on Friday during an undercover operation in Roma, a border town in Starr County, which culminated in the arrests of two women. This came after another woman was apprehended on Thursday. Two suspects remain at large, with warrants issued for their arrests.
In the early morning darkness, sheriff’s deputies from Goliad and Jackson counties, narcotics officers from the Kingsville Police Department, and U.S. Marshalls collaborated to arrest members of a suspected human trafficking ring identified by Goliad County Sheriff’s Office investigators.
The investigation, initially coordinated with Border Patrol agents, saw the involvement of Starr County Sheriff’s Office liaisons and Texas Border Czar Mike Banks.
Boyd’s OLS Task Force targeted the second phase of an alleged human smuggling operation based in Roma.
The operation’s initial phase, organized by cartel members, involved transporting foreign nationals from Mexico across the Rio Grande River into Roma. Subsequently, various women, including a mother of young children, allegedly alternated in transporting these individuals to Houston.
When some of these women drove through Goliad County, they were apprehended and charged with smuggling. GCSO special investigators then embarked on a detailed investigation, uncovering a previously unknown human smuggling ring.
Investigators identified additional group members and found that they had collaborated multiple times, acting as scouts and drivers to transport illegal foreign nationals through Border Patrol checkpoints and via Goliad on their way to Houston.
“If you commit a crime in Goliad County, with funds provided by the governor through Operation Lone Star, we will hunt you down no matter where you are,” Boyd warned in an interview with The Center Square. “We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will provide you with free transportation to and housing in our jail.”
Over the past 24 hours, authorities have arrested three women, charging them with continuous smuggling of persons, a felony that can result in up to 10 years in prison per count. The arrested individuals, all U.S. citizens and Roma residents, are Margarita Garcia, 41; Jackqueline Munoz, 34; and Christine Montelango, 34. Two suspects remain at large with outstanding warrants.
Garcia was arrested during a traffic stop on Thursday. Munoz was arrested early Friday morning with her 15-year-old daughter in her vehicle. Montelango was taken into custody after dropping her young children at school, wearing a T-shirt depicting a rat wearing a crown and holding a needle and cheese, with the caption, “snitches get stitches.”
Investigators indicated to The Center Square that it’s not uncommon for women, including mothers, to engage in smuggling activities, sometimes using their own children as cover.
The investigation revealed that the alleged smugglers operated similarly to a transnational criminal organization. They allegedly held foreign nationals in a stash house in Mission, a border town about an hour east, before moving them north.
Each woman is currently held on a $175,000 bond in the Goliad County jail.
The OLS Task Force and the Goliad Sheriff’s Office have earned a reputation for their relentless pursuit and arrest of those committing crimes in their county.
Boyd mentioned to The Center Square that transporting alleged criminals to their jail is part of their strategy to ensure a thorough investigation. Instead of handing over suspects to local jurisdictions, they continue investigating to identify and arrest the principal members of the organizations they are targeting.
OLS Task Force members are comprised of “like-minded” sheriffs, said Jackson County Sheriff Kelly R. Janica. He joined Boyd in launching the task force over two years ago, with one of his deputies present in Starr County, roughly four hours south of Jackson County.
“We’re committed to criminal law enforcement in our counties,” Jackson emphasized. “We will not give the cartels a foothold. We will not allow them to use our county for stash houses and staging areas. We will not allow them free passage through our counties so they can prey upon other Texans.”
