
Man charged with organizing smuggling operation that ended in fiery California crash that killed 13
CNN
Federal authorities charged a man Tuesday with coordinating the effort to smuggle dozens of people into the US that ended in a California crash earlier this month that killed 13 people after an overloaded SUV collided with a semitruck near the US-Mexico border.
Jose Cruz Noguez, 47, a legal resident of the US who lived in Mexicali, Mexico, was taken into custody Monday night as he attempted to cross the Calexico Port of Entry, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California said in a press release. Cruz is accused of helping organize the smuggling effort in which 44 individuals were crammed into two vehicles, a Ford Expedition and a GMC Yukon, to illegally cross into the US, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
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