Clever…but too clever. The Texas DPS arrested a Mississippi man Friday after discovering that the box truck “Lowe’s”, which he was driving, had a hidden compartment where 17 illegal immigrants were being transported.
Cezanne Megel Patton, 28, from Jackson, Mississippi was arrested and accused of human smuggling involving the risk of death or serious bodily harm.
In a press statement, the DPS stated that one of their troopers stopped a truck, which appeared to be from Lowe’s Home Improvement, outside of Del Rio in Texas on US-277 near the southern boundary, during the early hours of Friday morning.
DPS reported that after stopping the truck the trooper spoke with Patterson. He noticed Patterson’s “strange” behavior and multiple discrepancies in his travel itinerary. This included expired tags on the vehicle.
Patterson agreed to allow a search of the truck. When troopers entered the cargo area they discovered a false compartment at the front.
The troopers used crowbars to open the compartment. They found 17 illegal immigrants packed into the 3-foot-wide space that was devoid of ventilation.
The bodycam footage is shocking, especially when you realize that 17 people were crammed into the non-ventilated area. The video shows the trooper telling them to exit one at a time and cross their legs to the side.
Although the illegal immigrants were probably not pleased to be found, they were. This story is impossible to read without thinking of the 46 people who died in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, in 2022.
Border Patrol treated the 17 people found in the fake Lowe’s truck for dehydration.
