Border Patrol received a tip from an anonymous caller who saw a white Ford Escape SUV being loaded with suspicious bundles at the River Bend Golf Course on the morning of April 12, 2019, according to a report by the Dallas Morning News.
This course is renowned as a smuggling corridor for illegal narcotics coming from Mexico across the border into the United States.
A Border Patrol agent spotted the SUV and pulled it over, finding five large packages containing a total of 275 pounds of marijuana.
Photos released by authorities show large bundles wrapped in plastic and tied with ropes in the back of the car and a baby boy tucked into a car seat holding a bottle. Agents report the vehicle had a “Baby on Board” sign hanging on the rear window.
Two women, 22-year-old Ashley Renee Resendiz, the driver of the vehicle, and 47-year-old Carla Michelle Resendiz were arrested at the scene. Both women were charged with marijuana possession with intent to distribute. According to authorities, text messages from Carla Resendiz’s cellphone showed several details about picking up the drugs.
Carla Resendiz was later released. Her bail was set at $75,000 on Thursday. Ashley Resendiz turned down the opportunity for a detention hearing and will stay in custody until her trial.
It’s unclear who the parents of the baby are, but authorities say they placed him in the care of a relative, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Among all illegal narcotics, marijuana is by far the most common drug seized along the southern border, according to the border agency statistics. In 2019, to date, the Office of Field Operations Drug Seizures has captured over 121,000 pounds of marijuana, while there have been over 148,000 pounds confiscated by the border agency.
In 2017, Newshub reported, a bundled object weighing 99 pounds was launched through the air over the fence from Mexico and landed in southern Arizona. This was just one in many cases of drug smugglers shooting projectiles across the border. It’s unknown what the smugglers used to eject this particular package, but they have been known to use homemade catapults and air cannons. A package that heavy would need a powerful launcher.
#USBP Douglas agents #AlwaysVigilant seized over 90 lbs of MJ catapulted over US/Mex fence. #KeepingAmericaSafe #CBP https://t.co/9OnerLySll pic.twitter.com/nTM74rRKkX
— CBP Arizona (@CBPArizona) August 25, 2017
A Similar Case
According to a report from NBC San Diego on April 9, 2018, a mother of five children was arrested at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry to southern California with 231 pounds of drugs in her minivan, CBP agents said. The woman was driving a Honda Odyssey with her five children in the car at the moment loaded with drugs, consisting of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, valuing more than $1 million in total and stashed away in all compartments of the car.
“CBP has seen many forms of drug smuggling through the years,” said Pete Flores, director of field operations for CBP in San Diego. “The hardest ones are when adults include their children in attempted smuggling schemes.”
