ST. GEORGE — A defendant originally charged with felony human smuggling was sentenced in court in Iron County after the charge was pleaded down to a misdemeanor.
Jeremias Chan Paxtor-Pascual, 18, of California, appeared in 5th District Court in Iron County Monday for sentencing on a class B misdemeanor charge of doing business without a license during a hearing presided over by District Judge Matthew L. Bell.
The traffic stop on Interstate 15
Pasqual was originally charged with one second-degree felony count of human smuggling when the case was filed following his arrest during a traffic stop on northbound I-15 just south of Parowan by the Utah Highway Patrol on Aug. 22 in Iron County.
During the stop, the trooper noticed there were “a lot of people” in the SUV the suspect was driving, and while speaking with Pasqual in his patrol vehicle, the trooper asked about the occupants, which is when the defendant reportedly admitted to driving the eight occupants to Denver “because they wanted to work and didn’t have passports.”
The suspect also told police he was being paid $1000 to drive the undocumented workers to their destination, adding this was the second or third trip involving the same activity – trips that were arranged by a friend who also provided funds to cover fuel and other expenses “for the people being smuggled,” the trooper noted in the arrest documents.
Pascual was arrested and booked into the Iron County Jail on the human smuggling charge that was filed by the Iron County Attorney’s Office within days of the arrest.
One month later, the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor licensing charge and during the hearing, the prosecutor, Trajan Evans, described the state’s position in the case by saying the following:
“The defendant in this case was transporting a group of individuals comprised mostly adult males to their place of employment, which was across the country. He was being paid to do so by the occupants of the vehicle,” Evan said.
The prosecutor went on to say that nothing in the evidence indicated that these occupants were being “taken across the country against their will.”
As such, the suspect was “operating a business in which a license is required,” which he failed to obtain, the prosecutor said, adding that the defendant was speeding because “he didn’t notice his speed was fast.”
The prosecutor also mentioned that Pascual was young and had no criminal record prior to the case.
The sentence of 180 days in jail was suspended in the case and instead, Pascual was placed on 18 months of bench probation and he was ordered to pay a fine of $800.
The defendant was also found with a large amount of cash during the stop, money the defense attorney, Ryan Stout, asked to be transferred to the court to pay any fines and other fees. Stout also told the court that the case should not affect his client’s immigration status. The court was also advised that an immigration hold was placed upon the defendant.
At the close of the hearing, the judge ordered that Pascual be released with credit for the 34 days he had already served.
The prosecutor told St. George News that the defendant was released into the custody of Immigrations, Customs and Enforcement following the hearing, adding that typically, anyone placed on an immigration hold is transported to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they will appear before a magistrate on the immigration issue.
He went on to say the reduction in the charge was based on several factors, including the suspect’s lack of any criminal history, the fact that he was honest with authorities during the traffic stop and that there was no coercion or other nefarious activities involved since Pascual was not the one who had arranged for the transport of the eight adults to the job site in Chicago, but was paid a flat fee by the man who contracted with the undocumented workers.
As such, the human smuggling charge was reduced to the business license offense which seemed to be the most appropriate charge since the defendant would still be in federal custody once the current case was dealt with.
Human smuggling
Human smuggling is a very different crime from human trafficking, but both are illegal in the United States, according to information obtained from Homeland Security Investigations and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Under federal law, human smuggling involves the provision of a service—typically, by providing transportation or fraudulent documents to an individual who
voluntarily seeks to gain illegal entry into a foreign country, including the United States. Under federal legal definitions, unlike human trafficking, human smuggling does not include coercion.
Further, human trafficking is exploitation-based, while human smuggling is transportation-based, such as transporting eight adults across the country to work in another state.
In Utah, human smuggling is defined as the transport of those who illegally enter another country, “either clandestinely or through deception,” and is often considered a criminal commercial transaction between two willing parties who go their separate ways once their business is complete, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Utah.
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