The 16-year-old Mesa boy being held in the Cochise County jail on a first-degree murder charge in a human smuggling attempt gone horribly wrong will be back in court next month for a pretrial conference.
At a hearing earlier this month, the attorney for Felix Mendez agreed to waive time against the teen’s Aug. 22 speedy trial deadline in order for the prosecutor to provide further disclosure of potential evidence. Mendez, who doesn’t turn 17 until May, remains in custody without bail.
Mendez has been indicted on 14 felonies for his actions back on Oct. 30 when he came to Cochise County in an attempt to earn quick cash by transporting a few undocumented immigrants. The charges involve the death of Wanda Sitoski, a Benson woman whose car was sheared in half when Mendez ran a red light.
As an alternative to the first-degree murder charge, the grand jury included a second-degree murder and manslaughter charge in connection to the death of Sitoski, 65, who was driving to meet her son for a birthday dinner.
Other charges against Mendez include kidnapping, aggravated assault, and endangerment stemming from his erratic and dangerous driving while transporting four Mexican nationals in the vehicle. Two of the passengers were able to escape the vehicle a few miles before it crashed at State Route 90 and State Route 82, but two allege Mendez refused to let them out.
Three of the Mexican nationals are designated as material witnesses and have been provided court-appointed attorneys. All gave sworn depositions which can be used in future court proceedings if any of them are unavailable to testify at trial.
A federal agent with the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office in Douglas was in the courtroom for one of Mendez’s early court appearances. The agency is frequently involved in tracking and targeting the organizers of human smuggling activity.
HSI spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe confirmed the agency has an interest in the Mendez case and is assisting DPS as needed with the investigation. That, however, is as much information as Pitts O’Keefe would provide.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, information is limited,” she said.
LEARN MORE ABOUT FELIX MENDEZ CASE: HERE
