Guatemalan charged in illegal transport

TEXARKANA — Federal authorities have charged a Guatemalan man arrested in Arkansas with transporting people who are in the country without legal permission.

The Texarkana Gazette reported that Isaias Elias-Pelico was transporting at least seven passengers when he was pulled over July 24.

Court documents state Elias-Pelico presented a fake driver's license to a trooper. The officer contacted the Department of Homeland Security.

Elias-Pelico and the passengers were taken to a federal immigration office in Texarkana. Authorities say his fingertips matched those of a Guatemalan man who had been stopped in the U.S. before.

A passenger tells police he paid Elias-Pelico and another man $600 to take him from Houston to Pennsylvania. He says he was going to pay another $350 upon arrival.

Calls by The Associated Press to the driver's lawyer went unanswered early Friday.

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