2 leaders of a group suspected of smuggling 20,000 immigrants are
arrested in Los Angeles
[March 04, 2025]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities in Los Angeles arrested
two alleged leaders of a criminal organization suspected of smuggling
20,000 people from Guatemala to the U.S. and charging each person as
much as $18,000 to get them into the country.
Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, known as “Turko,” and his lieutenant,
Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, were taken into custody Friday. They have each
pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to smuggling migrants
across the border over five years, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
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Acting United States Attorney Joe McNally, of the Central District of
California, announces arrests of a transnational criminal organization
that allegedly smuggled approximately 20,000 immigrants from Guatemala
to the United States over five years on Monday, March 3, 2025, in Los
Angeles. They are looking for Helmer Obispo-Hernandez pictured at left.
(Sarah Reingewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP) |
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A federal judge ordered the men, who themselves are in the
country illegally, jailed without bond until their trial in
April.
The indictment names Renoj-Matul as the head of one of the
largest human smuggling organizations in the U.S., a vast ring
operating for at least a dozen years that primarily transported
people to the U.S. from Guatemala.
The criminal network was responsible for the deaths of seven
immigrants without legal status — including a 4-year-old child —
who were killed in a November 2023 vehicle crash in Oklahoma,
prosecutors said.
A driver who's been in custody in Oklahoma since that crash,
Jose Paxtor-Oxlaj, was also charged in the California
indictment, according to the court documents. Another man,
Helmer Obispo-Hernandez, a lieutenant in the organization and a
supervisor of a team of drivers, faces charges as well. He's
believed to be in Guatemala, officials said.
Attorneys for the four men could not be located Monday for
comment.
Renoj-Matual was assisted by associates in Guatemala who
solicited people who each paid between $15,000 and $18,000 to be
smuggled to the U.S. through Mexico, prosecutors said.
For an additional fee, the migrants were transported and moved
to various destinations in the United States, including Los
Angeles and Phoenix. Some of the migrants who weren't able to
pay the fees were held hostage in a stash house near downtown
Los Angeles, according to prosecutors.
“These smuggling organizations have no regard for human life and
their conduct kills,” Acting United States Attorney Joseph T.
McNally said in a statement. “The indictment and arrests here
have dismantled one of the country’s largest and most dangerous
smuggling organizations.”
If convicted of all charges, the defendants could face a
statutory maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment.
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