Blistering hot truck full of immigrants found at Texas Walmart; 9 dead

[scootro]

http://www.kens5.com/news/local/semi-trailer-discovered-with-immigrants-in-san-antonio/458904209

SAN ANTONIO - On Monday, the driver of the semi-truck, James Matthew Bradley, Jr., was charged with one count of transporting illegal aliens.

A federal complaint filed Monday morning alleged that Bradley unlawfully transported undocumented immigrants in violation of law, resulting in the death of ten of the people transported. Upon conviction, the offense is punishable by life imprisonment or death, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr.

The apparent smuggling operation involving undocumented immigrants came to a tragic conclusion early Sunday morning when emergency responders found dozens of people in distress inside a hot semi-trailer at a Walmart in southwest San Antonio.

The death toll has risen to 10 in the smuggling tragedy. Eight people were dead at the scene early Sunday morning. One more died during the day at a San Antonio hospital. The deceased were reportedly all adult males, according to the Department of Justice United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Texas.

On Monday morning, the U.S. Attorney's office confirmed a tenth victim died in the hospital.

Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there may have been more than 100 people in the truck. Only 38 were found inside the trailer and one in the wooded area nearby. Officials believe the rest left the scene.

[scootro]

We're they traveling across the border or from some where's else?

[GhostTX]

Sanctuary city FTW.

[Big Dad]

http://www.keloland.com/news/article/news/iowa-firm-tied-to-truck-deaths-has-history-of-legal-problems

The small, family-owned Iowa trucking company linked to the deadly case of immigrant smuggling in Texas has a history of safety and tax violations and financial problems, public records show.

Pyle Transportation Inc. failed to pay federal employment and trucking taxes for years, faced lawsuits from Iowa labor regulators over unpaid wages owed to drivers and has been ordered to pay major penalties for violations of federal safety rules, records show. The IRS and others who say the company owes them money have often found no assets available to garnish.

The company and its driver insist they know nothing about how dozens of immigrants became packed inside the trailer of its 18-wheeler, which was found parked in the searing heat outside a San Antonio Walmart over the weekend. Ten of those passengers died and more than 15 others were hospitalized with extreme dehydration, with one passenger telling investigators people were taking turns breathing from a hole inside the trailer.

Pyle Transportation owner Brian Pyle denied knowledge of any human smuggling and expressed shock and bewilderment over how so many people could have been crammed into a trailer that had his name on it.

“I’m absolutely sorry it happened. I really am. It’s shocking,” Pyle said outside the company’s ramshackle office near the tiny downtown of Schaller, Iowa, a village of 750 in the rural northwestern part of the state.

He said he had reached a deal to sell the trailer to a person in Mexico and hired one of the company’s former drivers, James Matthew Bradley Jr. of Clearwater, Florida, as an independent contractor to drive the trailer to a drop-off point in the border city of Brownsville, Texas.

Pyle showed a reporter a copy of what he said was a bill of sale, dated May 10, which contained no sales price and only the name Orozco. Pyle declined to identify the purchaser or say where in Brownsville the trailer was to be delivered. The county treasurer’s office declined to say whether paperwork transferring the truck’s title had been filed.

Bradley was charged Monday with transporting immigrants who were in the United States illegally, resulting in the deaths. Bradley told investigators that he was transporting the trailer for his boss from Iowa to Brownsville, and made some stops along the way. He said he was unaware people were inside until he parked and got out to urinate.

The driver claimed he was not given a delivery time or address.

He told authorities that he had stopped in Laredo, Texas — which would have been out of his way if he were traveling directly to Brownsville — to get the truck washed and detailed before heading back 150 miles (240 kilometers) north to San Antonio. From there, he would have had to drive 275 miles (440 kilometers) south again to get to Brownsville.

Pyle, 34, said there was no reason for the driver to stop in Laredo and San Antonio. He refused to discuss his company’s prior legal problems, saying the focus should be on issues surrounding the deaths.

“It should be about what happened in Texas and not my company,” he said.

Federal records show the company claims 15 drivers and 18 trucks that haul fresh produce, meat, food, paper products and other freight. The company reported logging 830,000 miles in 2013, the latest year for which figures were available. The company and its drivers have repeatedly been cited for safety, vehicle maintenance and record-keeping violations, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data.

Many of the violations have been tied to truckers who didn’t get enough rest between shifts — or who kept false reports that suggested they did. Just last month, the company was penalized more than $50,000 over false reports of drivers’ work and rest activities. In 2015, it faced a $90,000 penalty for the same infraction.

Since Jan. 1, Pyle Transportation drivers have been accused of driving too many hours, failing to keep accurate records, carrying too much weight, having defective brakes, having an inoperative turn signal and consuming alcohol before driving, among more than 100 violations recorded during roadside inspections. At least seven resulted in the trucks being placed out-of-service.

The Pyle family has been involved in the trucking business for decades but Pyle Transportation was formed in 2006.

In a legal action filed in 2015, the federal government said the company failed to pay more than $150,000 in employment, insurance and heavy highway vehicle use taxes between 2009 and 2012. The government said that two of the family’s previous trucking firms had significant unpaid tax liabilities when they were shuttered and transferred their operations and customers to Pyle Transportation.

The government said the IRS has found that the company “has no significant assets” from which it could collect the taxes through foreclosure or garnishment. A judge ordered the company to pay all outstanding liabilities and face strict IRS monitoring for five years in which the company must attest monthly that required tax deposits were made.

The Iowa Labor Commissioner has gone to court twice to collect unpaid wages owed to drivers in recent years. One case was dropped after the company made a payment; in the other, an attempt to garnish the money failed when a bank said its checking account had “less than zero balance” in October 2016. Just last week, a different bank reported that the company’s account was “overdrawn” to a vendor who won a small claims judgment for unpaid services.

© 2017 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Material may not be redistributed.

General News

[jammeejamm]

we found drugs in your pants.

those are not my pants.

same shit, different toilet.

[Shaggin Wagon]

I wonder if there was any hot women in there...

[Big Dad]

[johnboy]

I just saw a interview with a survivor on channel 11. Says he paid $5500 to be brought here. His excuse was he couldn't find work in his hometown. $5500 and couldn't find work? He just wasted his money, he just earned a one way ticket back home. Dumbass!

[Juiced4v]

I just saw a interview with a survivor on channel 11. Says he paid $5500 to be brought here. His excuse was he couldn't find work in his hometown. $5500 and couldn't find work? He just wasted his money, he just earned a one way ticket back home. Dumbass!

Yeah I heard that as well...the price has really gone up...you can survive for 5k/year in Mexico.

[Shaggin Wagon]

I actually laughed at this! Thanks!

[scootro]

how many semi trailers full of people make it through the border?

[bcoop]

The owner knew exactly what was up and completely hung his driver out to dry. That folks, is how you conduct yourself when involved in crime.

[Big Dad]

I don't think either the driver or the owner knew anything .

I suspect what happened was this..

Mysterious voice calls . any trailers for sale ?

Owner being greedy and maybe even a bit crooked thought I'll shuffle that trailer into Mexico, say its stolen or whatever ..collect on it !

Then gives shady directions to ignorant driver , based on what mysterious voice told him ..played hide the pea game, until he had a herd of ignorant illegals rounded up ..
Told driver to stop somewhere, while h slept or ate , whatever -- they loaded up the poor bastards locked the door and collected the money and ran ..

No reason the driver knowing he had that in the trailer would pop open doors in the middle of the day in wally world parking lot ..knowing he would be caught ,. he knew nothing