DEL RIO, Texas — Federal authorities charged three individuals for their alleged roles in a human trafficking scheme involving a child, according to a press release Wednesday.
26-year-old Elida Kassandra Moreno, an American citizen residing in Piedras Negras, Mexico, was charged with bringing an undocumented immigrant into the U.S. for profit. She was also charged with making a false statement to a federal agent.
Victor Manuel Monsivais, 65, of San Antonio, and Nery Uriostegui, 26, a resident of Mexico, were charged separately with conspiracy to transport an undocumented immigrant.
According to the press release, deputies with the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office took Moreno to the Eagle Pass Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) office for questioning after performing a traffic stop Tuesday in Batesville, Texas.
HSI Eagle Pass was contacted by HSI San Antonio and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to locate a Mexican male unaccompanied child (UAC) believed to be kidnapped.
Moreno told investigators she was offered $1,700 by a friend’s neighbor in Piedras Negras to transport a boy to his family in San Antonio while using her own son’s birth certificate.
Moreno and the boy crossed in the U.S. through Eagle Pass, rented a hotel room, then took a shuttle van to San Antonio the next day.
While in San Antonio, Moreno said the friend’s neighbor told her to meet Uriostegui at Santa Rosa Park, collect $2,500 from him and deliver the boy. Moreno said the friend’s neighbor subsequently told her not to hand over the child and a struggle ensued between Moreno and Uriostegui. San Antonio police arrived at the scene and took Uriostegui into custody.
