Douglas Police Officers have arrested three local residents for smuggling of human beings after a spontaneous police sting.

According to Marc Gonzalez of the Douglas Police Dept., on August 16 Douglas Police officers stopped a vehicle for a traffic violation and the driver identified himself as an illegal border crosser and undocumented alien.

Upon further investigation, police were enlightened to the illegal activity of human smuggling.

Gonzalez said DPD officers answered a phone, which was ringing in the vehicle, and posed as the driver of the vehicle. Police spoke directly to the smuggler, who provided directions to the undocumented aliens that were to be picked up and transported further into the U.S.

Gonzalez said the DPD officers followed the smugglers directions and were led to an undisclosed location in Douglas where several more undocumented aliens were apprehended and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Police continued following the orders of the smuggler on the telephone, which led them to a residence on 9th St., where the undocumented aliens were to be dropped off.

There the DPD made contact with the tenants of the residence, a male and a female, and determined that they were also undocumented aliens previously deported by the U.S. Border Patrol.

After speaking with all of the undocumented aliens, police learned the smuggler’s identities.

“The undocumented aliens told police that they had paid the smugglers $40 each to stay at the smuggler’s apartment and later $700 through a wire transfer to Western Union at Food City as partial payment for transportation to Little Rock, Arkansas,” Gonzalez said. “The undocumented aliens were then kicked out of the apartment once the smugglers received the money.”  The undocumented aliens had written down the smugglers address, which they found on a utility bill inside the apartment.

Police were led to the apartment, but discovered that the tenants had already moved out. 

Gonzalez said DPD officers later apprehended one of the smugglers identified as Marco A. Galaz, 33 of Douglas.

Gonzalez said Galaz denied being directly involved with the human smuggling plot, but had already been identified by the undocumented aliens.  Galaz was arrested for Human Smuggling and transported to the Cochise County Jail for detention.

Police later apprehended the other two smugglers, as identified by the undocumented aliens. They were Christina Cummings, 41, and her daughter, Jamie Maria Cummings, 23, both also from Douglas for human smuggling.  Both were transported to the Cochise County Jail for detention.

On August 20, 2009, Marco A. Galaz, Christina Cummings, and Jamie M. Cummings were indicted on charges of Smuggling of Human Beings and Money Laundering, both felonies in the State of Arizona.

Gonzalez said police are taking a pro-active role in disrupting illegal smuggling operations.

“This is a good example of how individual police officer’s intuition and investigative skills can play an important role in bringing criminals to justice,” he said.