BORDER TOWN USA: Human Smuggler Arrested with Migrants in Florida Panhandle

Florida Highway Patrol arrested an alleged human smuggler after finding three migrants being transported from Houston, Texas, to Key Largo. Officials say cases like this are on the rise.

“It’s, unfortunately, becoming a regular occurrence for us to run across either victims, or smugglers, or the actual combination of both on our roadways,” FHP Criminal Interdiction Unit Trooper Jake Moore told WJHG during an April 25 interview. “Since December 2021, we’ve made five stops that have resulted in seven human smuggling arrests, and over 22 bodies, or people saved from being trafficked into the state of Florida alone.”

Florida troopers executed a traffic stop on a white Toyota Corolla in Santa Rosa County for an infraction along Interstate 10 eastbound on April 20, according to a WEAR ABC3 report. During the investigation, troopers determine three passengers in the vehicle were in the U.S. illegally and were allegedly being smuggled from Houston to Key Largo.

The troopers arrested the driver, 30-year-old Fermin Morataya-Monzon, and transported him to the Santa Rosa County Jail where he is charged with three state counts of human smuggling, the report states.

The suspected human smuggler allegedly confessed to troopers he had been paid to smuggle the three illegal aliens into the U.S. for work, WJHG reported.

Troopers turned the case over to U.S. Border Patrol agents and the Department of Homeland Security for further investigation for possible federal charges.

Florida officials told WJHG that smugglers are not just people from the border, but are people from all over who are traveling to move people across state lines.

On April 3, Florida troopers stopped a woman driving a silver Ford Explorer a the same mile marker on Interstate 1o in Santa Rosa County. An investigation identified two passengers as migrants illegally present in the United States, WEAR reported. These migrants were also being smuggled from Texas — this time to Clearwater, Florida.  The troopers arrested 29-year-old Jessica Lemus-Fuentas and transported her to the Santa Rosa County Jail. Troopers also turned this case over to DHS for investigation.

Florida troopers asked for help in identifying victims of human trafficking and smuggling. Trooper Moore said just look for “something that’s out of place. You could be at a gas station and notice people who aren’t free to leave a vehicle, or just something out of the ordinary.”