Man held in trafficking of immigrants
Police in Laughlin arrested a man on human trafficking charges, but six people they found to be in the country illegally fled Thursday.
Metropolitan Police Department officers found a vehicle with six Hispanic men inside it on a dirt road at the second mile marker of state Route 164 about 12:30 p.m. Thursday. They found more than 20 backpacks and coats on the ground in the nearby desert.
Police suspect the area was either a drop-off or pickup point for illegal immigrants trying to move about the country, police spokesman Jose Montoya said.
They arrested Rodolfo Juarez-Alvarez, 28, on charges of trafficking illegal immigrants.
Juarez-Alvarez remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Friday night with bail set at $3,000. Police did not know his citizenship status.
The six men inside the Honda Element jumped out of the car and ran into the desert, police said. None was captured.
Immigrant trafficking arrests such as this are uncommon in the Laughlin area, Montoya said.
