Share on LinkedIn

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A Dallas man arrested in April on charges he was smuggling four immigrants from Mexico to Dallas was indicted Tuesday.

Guillermo Ramirez Hernandez, 46, was charged by a McLennan County grand jury with four counts of smuggling of persons. Three of the charges are third-degree felonies, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A fourth count is a second-degree felony, with a penalty up to 20 years, because it alleges Hernandez was trying to smuggle a person younger than 18.

Hernandez remains in the McLennan County Jail under bonds totaling $25,000. He also is being held on an immigration detainer.

According to an arrest affidavit, a Department of Public Safety officer pulled over a northbound 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee on Interstate 35 for driving nine mph over the speed limit on April 23.

The trooper identified Hernandez and four other Hispanic men in the Jeep, including one who was 16, the affidavit alleges.

The officer reported a number of inconsistencies in Hernandez’s statements, including him saying he left Dallas to pick up the four men from Austin, while one of the men said he was picked up in Houston.

Officers from the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement interviewed the four men, who admitted they came from Mexico and were told Hernandez was going to pick them up and take them to Dallas, the affidavit alleges.

The four men were detained by ICE, the affidavit states.