A man with a sport utility vehicle full of illegal immigrants has been busted on Interstate 75 in Sumter County.
The gray 2019 Dodge Journey with Alabama license plates was pulled over at 3:25 p.m. Tuesday due to rear windows that were illegally tinted, according to an arrest report from the Florida Highway Patrol. A traffic stop was initiated near Mile Marker 311.
The owner of the vehicle was identified as 33-year-old Simon Mendoza Robles by his Mexican ID card. He had “a quantity of U.S. currency in his pocket,” the report said.
There were five men in the vehicle who were from Mexico who had traveled illegally into Arizona. They made it to Tuscaloosa, Ala. where each paid $200 to $300 for transport to Tampa. The men appeared to be “extremely disheveled.” One of the men described being in a “stash house” in Arizona with 20-30 migrants. The arrest report noted “an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror and an additional air freshener on the passenger side.”
The driver was identified as 43-year-old Raymundo Temoxtle Ramos of Mexico. He also admitted he was in the United States illegally and had crossed into Arizona.
Border Patrol took the men into custody and determined they had been in the United States for less than a week.
Robles was arrested on six felony counts of human smuggling. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center.
This is the fourth major human smuggling arrest within the past 30 days on I-75 in Sumter County.
• On Oct. 21 a vehicle with heavily tinted windows was found to be carrying two males from Guatemala and the two females from Mexico. It was determined they had paid for transit to Florida with additional payment required once they arrived at their destination.
• A white Nissan Armada was pulled over Nov. 4 with three passengers who were “disheveled and unbathed.” One of the passengers, a 29-year-old woman, admitted to illegally entering the United States three days earlier. She said she had been at a “stash house” near Juarez.
• Four illegal immigrants were taken into custody on Nov. 8 as they were being transported from Michigan to Florida, where they indicated they would be seeking field work. The driver, who was traveling with his two young children, was arrested.