Gerardo Garcia Mejia, 29, was charged Tuesday, Aug. 27, with seven 2nd-degree felony counts for suspected human smuggling.
According to a probable cause statement, Heber City police stopped Garcia Mejia around 3:45 Monday morning, Aug. 26, for speeding.
He allegedly told officers he was driving to Cheyenne for work, then to Washington and Oregon. But when officers spoke with Garcia Mejia’s seven passengers, they did not know each other and their stories didn’t match up.
A police search of license plate readers showed the car had crossed from California into Nevada the day before, then through Las Vegas and St. George before the driver was stopped in Heber.
Inside the car, officers say they found fake social security cards and fake identification cards.
Wasatch County court documents list a Los Angeles address for the driver, but the seven passengers allegedly entered the U.S. without legal permission and were being transported from California to states across the country.
The probable cause statement also says a ledger found in Garcia Mejia’s car included a list of immigrants’ contact information, where he was transporting them and how much he was charging.
Multiple passengers told officers they didn’t know how much the driver would charge them for their journeys or how they would pay. One man told officers it was less expensive than paying cartels in Mexico.
Garcia Mejia is being held without bail in the Wasatch County Jail. Second-degree felonies can carry fines of up to $10,000 and up to 15 years in prison.
The case comes less than two weeks after Heber police arrested a man traveling from New Mexico for suspected human trafficking. He had not been charged as of Aug. 28.
Heber City Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
