Man Charged in Migrant Stash House Case

0:00It's March 24. I'm Cory with the story, and this is El Paso News today, local news powered by AI. A 37-year-old man faces federal charges for running a migrant stash house in central El Paso. Creshencio Pacheco-Overa is accused of conspiring to harbor, transport, and bring undocumented people into the country. The case stems from a bust where border agents found 19 migrants crammed inside a semi-trailer near Los Cruces, New Mexico. That discovery on February 13, at a checkpoint on Interstate 25, sparked an investigation. Agents tracked the trail back to a small apartment building in the 4,000 block of Truman Avenue in El Paso. They set up surveillance and raided the place on February 26, uncovering 16 more migrants hiding there. The migrants described tough journeys, including crossing through a cut in the border fence near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. They were picked up by smugglers, shuttle to spots like an El Paso Walmart, and then driven to the stash house.

1:01One migrant even served as a caretaker at the location. Interviews with those from the semi-trailer and the house pointed directly to Pacheco-Overa. They identified him as the driver of a white dodge and the main person overseeing the stash house. He loaded some onto the truck that got stopped. Pacheco-Overa was arrested and is held with Alban at the El Paso County jail, awaiting trial and federal court in New Mexico. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.