After a failed effort to have his human smuggling charges transferred to juvenile court, a 15-year-old Phoenix resident accepted a plea deal this month which could land him in prison when sentenced by a Cochise County judge.
Damien Paul was taken into custody near Douglas on Jan. 31 following a multi-agency effort that zigzagged across several miles of southern Cochise County. At one point, two ADOT workers had to jump over guardrails to avoid being struck by a speeding stolen vehicle driven by Paul.
Five undocumented migrants and one of Paul’s friends were inside the vehicle.
Paul was charged as an adult with 12 felonies. He pleaded guilty to two – unlawful flight from law enforcement and auto theft – and will be sentenced June 9 by Judge Jason Lindstrom.
The plea deal Paul signed contains no promise as to whether he will be placed on probation by Lindstrom, or will have to spend more time in jail or even prison.
How Paul came to be facing prison time for trying to make “easy bread” is a familiar story for thousands of young people who travel from Maricopa County to Arizona’s border communities to participate in human smuggling.
Court records show that on the morning of Jan. 31, a City of Douglas police sergeant was at the scene of an unrelated traffic stop along State Route 80 when he observed a silver Kia Forte fail to move over for emergency vehicles.
Sgt. Luis Coronado waived at the Kia driver to slow down, but as the vehicle passed the sergeant noticed three subjects “ducking down” in the back seat. Douglas Officer Sean Hahn was also at the traffic stop scene and commented that the Kia could be the same vehicle suspected earlier in the day of being involved in criminal activity.
The Kia sped away on eastbound SR80 and was clocked nearby on radar by Cochise County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Lomeli as traveling more than 120 mph in a 65 mph zone. Lomeli did not pursue the vehicle due to the dangerous speeds.
Several minutes later, Coronado located the Kia about 20 miles away near the New Mexico state line. The vehicle, which was now headed back westbound, was clocked on Coronado’s radar device at 113 mph as it approached an ADOT construction site.
Paul would later tell investigators he saw flashing emergency lights behind him but was encouraged by those in the vehicle to not stop. He also stated he recalled “slowing down” at the construction site but did not realize he actually sped by the ADOT crew at 65 mph in the 15 mph work zone.
Those ADOT workers “would likely have been struck” if they had not thrown themselves over the guardrails, Deputy County Attorney Terisha Driggs previously advised the court.
Coronado then contacted U.S. Border Patrol agents to have someone deploy “spike strips” along the roadway. The Kia slowed down “a little” as it approached the spikes and then slowed down even more after driving over the spikes, Coronado noted in his report.
However, the report indicates Paul did not pull over, instead continuing westbound, “swerving on the roadway, almost losing control.” The vehicle finally came to a stop about one mile from where Coronado first tried to simply get the driver to slow down.
Authorities ordered Paul and another Maricopa County teen, Anthony Solorzano, out of the Kia at gunpoint. Three male undocumented migrants were found in the backseat and two in the trunk.
An hour later, Paul was sitting with Solorzano as they waited to be processed after their arrest.
“I thought this was just going to be easy bread. Look at us now,” Paul was recorded as telling Solorzano.
In a post-Miranda statement, Paul told authorities he was in Phoenix when Solorzano said they could make up to $5,000 for transporting a group of people from the border to Maricopa County.