Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Selena Aguilar, 21, was booked into jail on human smuggling charges. She said she was enticed to the crime through a Facebook advertisement.
By Jon Johnson
A woman who said she was enticed into becoming a human smuggler from an ad on Facebook is being held in jail on a $25,000 bond.
Selena Carolina Aguilar, 21, of Tucson, was arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on June 6 after a traffic stop uncovered two undocumented aliens in the rear of her vehicle.
Two counts of smuggling humans for profit/commercial purposes were formally charged against Aguilar on June 12, and she was given her bond.
According to a Thatcher Police report, a Thatcher officer was working a Stonegarden detail south of Safford at 3:28 p.m. when he encountered Aguilar at about milepost 111 on U.S. Highway 191.
The Stonegarden program funds joint efforts to secure the United States’ borders along routes of ingress from international borders as well as travel corridors, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). For fiscal year 2022, $90 million was allocated for the program nationwide.
According to the officer’s report, Aguilar was measured traveling 69 mph in a 55 mph zone. When the officer initiated a traffic stop for the speed infraction, he discovered the illegal aliens and Aguilar readily admitted to smuggling.
She allegedly told the officer that she answered an ad on Facebook about making fast money and was instructed to pick up the two UDAs at a house “in the middle of nowhere.” She said she was told she would be paid $500 per migrant she delivered. However, when questioned where she was supposed to take them she said she deleted the address from her phone when she was stopped and didn’t remember.
Aguilar was then arrested and booked into jail. The two migrants were turned over to Border Patrol, and the vehicle was towed from the scene.
