LAPD Officer Charged with Smuggling Mexican Citizen in Trunk

LAPD Officer Charged with Smuggling Mexican Citizen in Trunk

SAN DIEGO, May 7 (UPI) — A Los Angeles police officer and his girlfriend were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of attempting to smuggle a man into the United States who was hiding in the trunk of a car from Mexico.

Carlos Curiel Quezada Jr., 34, and his girlfriend, Angelica Godinez, 31, were each charged with one count of bringing an undocumented immigrant without presentation for allegedly attempting to smuggle Antanasio Perez Avalos, a 26-year-old Mexican citizen, through the Otay Mesa border crossing, near San Diego.

On March 14, Quezada was driving his 2014 Nissan Juke with Godinez as his passenger through the border when they presented their U.S. passports to a Customs and Border Protection officer and said they had nothing to declare.

Border officers set them aside and used machinery similar to an x-ray on the car and detected something unusual in the trunk. Officers apparently found Avalos in the spare-tire compartment.

Quezada, a 10-year veteran previously assigned to the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, and Godinez were arrested immediately.

Quezada was placed on home paid administrative leave and he will not be returning to duty until the case is resolved in a criminal court and after an internal LAPD investigation.

They face maximum sentences of 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.