A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. Marshal Service to release a 19-year-old from Yuma pending a trial later this year for his involvement in a human smuggling act last week during which a Mexican national suffered a head injury.
Julio Cesar Saucedo was arrested Jan. 25 in Santa Cruz County after losing control of his vehicle and crashing into a rock embankment while fleeing from U.S. Border Patrol agents. He had at least four undocumented non-U.S. citizens (UNCs) in the vehicle, one of whom was hospitalized for injuries sustained during the crash.
Saucedo, who is noted as a Spanish-speaking U.S. citizen, has been in custody since his arrest. He came before Magistrate Judge Jacqueline M. Rateau at the U.S. District Court in Tucson for a Feb. 1 detention hearing. The judge ordered the teen released on his own recognizance without objection from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to court documents.
The federal criminal complaint filed upon Saucedo’s arrest reveals USBP agents were utilizing an integrated fixed tower (IFT) camera system on Jan. 25 to monitor a group of about 14 subjects in the area of Lochiel, several miles east of Nogales along the international border fence.
The IFT operator also observed two vehicles -a minivan and a sedan- driving on Duquesne Road / U.S. Forest Service 61 toward the subjects. A short while later, the minivan and then the sedan drove in the other direction, traveling various winding, gravel roads heading deeper into the Patagonia Mountains in the Coronado National Forest.
USBP agents followed the vehicles, which eventually turned onto San Rafael Valley Road.
“After several minutes, the sedan, a white Ford Taurus, passed the minivan at a high rate of speed,” the complaint states. “An additional (Border Patrol) vehicle then passed the minivan in an attempt to get behind the sedan. The sedan was then seen swerving, then losing control and crashing into a rock embankment, then coming to a stop.”
The complaint notes several people attempted to flee from the Taurus after it crashed. Saucedo and four UNCs were apprehended, including Cristian Martinez-Catalan, who had been in the backseat. The accident occurred on San Rafael Valley Road
Martinez-Catalan was transported to the hospital with a head injury. He told investigators that the group entered the U.S. by crossing over a “small International Boundary fence” and he got into the white vehicle at the direction of a foot guide, or coyote.
The accident occurred, according to Martinez-Catalan, when Saucedo tried to outrun the agents on the mountain roads.
“Martinez stated the driver of the vehicle was talking to someone on his cellphone during the event and the person on the other end of the phone instructed the driver to lose the Border Patrol Agents behind him,” the complaint states. “Martinez stated at that time, the driver floored it and crashed the vehicle.”
Federal prosecutors have designated Martinez-Catalan as a material witness against Saucedo, who is charged with participating in human smuggling for profit. The next court proceeding in the case is set for Feb. 24 when Martinez-Catalan will give a videotaped sworn deposition which can be used as evidence at Saucedo’s trial.
Public records also show the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office cited Saucedo at the scene for a criminal traffic violation of driving at a speed “greater than reasonable and prudent.”
