Woman accused of smuggling 24 immigrants indicted by federal grand jury

TYLER — A woman accused of smuggling two dozen people has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Tyler. According to our news partner KETK, Maria Lopez, 46, was indicted Thursday, October 21 on three counts of “transporting certain aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain.” Back on October 4, a Suburban was pulled over in the middle of the night by Cherokee County Sheriff deputies near Rusk. All the people inside the car were found to be illegal immigrants. The immigrants are originally from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. Lopez allegedly picked them up in Houston and was driving them to Mississippi and Florida for compensation. According to CSCO, it was revealed that Lopez allegedly assisted in smuggling 12 other loads of illegal immigrants into the U.S. “It’s not something we catch often, but it happens often,” Sheriff Brent Dickson said. He added that it wasn’t clear exactly what they were doing in East Texas. Upon further investigation, authorities found Lopez in possession of controlled substances XTC and methamphetamine. Lopez has a hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Tyler at 11:00 a.m.