CEDAR CITY, Utah, Aug. 22, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah Highway Patrol trooper based in Cedar City arrested an 18-year-old man Tuesday after finding him in an SUV with eight undocumented aliens he allegedly said he was transporting for $1,000 each.
The trooper spotted the gray SUV in the early hours of Tuesday, and noticed it was driving slowly and erratically.
“I pulled out and watched as the SUV went into the left lane to pass a semi truck in the right lane,” say arrest documents for the man, Pascual Jeremias Chan Paxtor.
“As the SUV performed this maneuver it drove over the left shoulder line, almost going into the median. As the vehicle continued northbound it drove on the center dashed line dividing lanes. I conducted a traffic stop of the SUV near mile marker 70. Upon my approach to the passenger side of the vehicle, I observed the SUV was full of people, in total eight plus the driver.”
Paxtor was riding in the front passenger seat, the trooper’s account says.
He “informed me that he should be driving, but that the driver was just helping drive. I asked the passenger who the driver was to him and he said his friend, but didn’t know his name.”
Paxtor was taken to the patrol car for questioning.
“Pascual admitted that he was driving the eight occupants to Denver because they wanted to work and didn’t have passports. Pascual admitted that he was getting paid $1,000 to drive the occupants and that it was his second or third trip performing such an activity. He also told me that his friend had set him up with the people to be transported and provided approximately $800 for fuel and expenses for the people being smuggled.”
Paxtor was arrested at about 1:17 a.m., according to his affidavit.
“He confirmed under Miranda that he was being paid to transport people. Inside Pascual’s wallet I found multiple of the same business card that he informed me that he had created. This business card had a picture of a minivan on it with multiple different destinations such as New York, Nevada, Miami.
“Pascual told me that he had made the business card for driving people that needed rides without passports and charged them different rates for different locations.”
Paxtor was booked for investigation of human smuggling, a second-degree felony. He was ordered to be held without bail in the Iron County Correctional Facility.
