Charges filed in deadly crash of SUV packed with 25 people in California, feds say

A man charged in connection with the deaths of 13 people crammed into a packed SUV near the U.S.-Mexico border has a history of human smuggling, federal prosecutors say.

The March 2 deadly crash shocked the California city of Holtville in Imperial County when a Ford Expedition carrying 25 people collided with a gravel truck.

Twelve people died at the scene, another died on the way to the hospital, and several others were seriously injured, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

Jose Cruz Noguez of Mexicali, Mexico, was arrested Monday and charged with conspiracy to bring people into the country illegally, causing serious bodily injury or placing a life in jeopardy, prosecutors said. He was also charged with bringing them for financial gain.

Cruz, 27, is a legal permanent resident of the United States who has spent time in San Jose, officials said. He was identified by another suspected smuggler who claimed Cruz had offered him $1,000 per passenger to drive the packed SUV on March 2, according to federal prosecutors.

The associate said he worked for Cruz, who he has known for several years, and described him as “a coordinator” who helps transport people who enter the United States illegally.

Family members or sponsors would pay Cruz for the transportation, according to prosecutors, and he would recruit drivers and watch for police.

The associate said Cruz paid him to drive people from El Centro, California, to Los Angeles, officials said.

“He said Cruz required him to harbor an individual who was illegally in the United States at his home in El Centro, California,” prosecutors said.

The day of the deadly crash, Cruz coordinated two vehicles to enter the U.S. through a border fence where a 10-foot section had been removed, prosecutors said.

A GMC Yukon SUV and the packed Ford Expedition entered the country at about 5:23 a.m., according to officials.

At about 5:56 a.m., the California Highway Patrol reported more than a dozen people running away from the GMC Yukon, which was burning, prosecutors said.

Nineteen people who were hiding in nearby brush were apprehended, officials said. A little over an hour later, the Calexico Police Department reported a mass-casualty crash in Holtville.

Officials found the Ford Expedition with only the driver and front passenger seats intact. All other seats in the SUV had been removed.

Cruz had told his associate in a secretly recorded conversation that the drivers in the two SUVs would make $28,000 from the 60 people there were driving, according to prosecutors.

“These smuggling networks seek maximum profit by moving as many people as possible across the border with zero regard for their safety and well-being,” Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a news release. “Cramming dozens of people into eight-passenger vehicles and driving recklessly to avoid detection shows an utter disregard for human life.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 7:56 AM.