Federal agents thwart human smuggling operation in north Phoenix, find 19 people in home

PHOENIX — Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant earlier in March and found 19 people in a north Phoenix home who had been illegally smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The residence that was subject to the search warrant for human smuggling on March 2 is located at 1535 West Desert Cove Avenue.

Investigators also arrested two “load drivers who also acted as caretakers of the residence” identified as Gabriel Garcia-Lopez and Alvaro Ojeda-Gomez, according to court records from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

The 19 individuals found in the home, referred to as “the Ark Apartment” in court documents, were all taken to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Phoenix Field Office for processing.

One of the people smuggled into the Ark Apartment said their final destination was Tennessee.

A second living space, which is located at 11045 North 17th Avenue, was also part of the investigation and HSI agents arrested a man and woman attempting to leave the area in a white Chevrolet Equinox.

The man, who was identified as Iven Jair Jonathan Monjarez-Perez, told agents in Spanish that “he is a citizen of Mexico and had no legal documentation to be lawfully present in the United States.” He added that various people in Mexico will pay him $100 per individual he successfully smuggles into the Ark Apartment.

Monjarez-Perez said he oversees Garcia-Lopez and Ojeda-Gomez and that his primary employer is known as “Pinki” and based out of Mexico. Ojeda-Gomez admitted to agents that they are from Mexico and not legally present in the U.S., while Garcia-Lopez “elected not to make a statement without the presence of a lawyer.”

Court documents signed off by HSI special agent Scott Toole alleged that Monjarez-Perez, Garcia-Lopez and Ojeda-Gomez “did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree with persons known and unknown, to transport and move within the United States aliens who had come to, entered and remained in the United States in violation of law.”

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