Horizon Teen Arrested In Drug Trafficking Investigation
EL PASO, TX. – Federal authorities arrested ateenager after he allegedly recruited several Horizon City high school students to be members of an international drug smuggling ring.
Horizon City police took 18-year-old Rene Perez into custody last Thursday night. They suspect him of recruiting other high school students to smuggle loads of marijuana into the U.S. Perez graduated from Horizon High last spring.
Court documents allege that Perez conspired to import more than 29,000 pounds of pot over the last school year. The Horizon City high school student allegedly paid other teens various amounts of money for different smuggling tasks.
The payoff for recruits, according to authorities, was huge. ICE agentstell ABC-7Perez would paystudents $1,500to get marijuana from Mexico into the U.S. through the El Paso area. He would pay up to $35,000 to recruits who would drive the pot to Oklahoma.
During the year long operation, Perez managed to pay out$820,000 to schoolmates he turned intosmugglers, officials say.
ICE agents tell ABC-7 teenagers arrested face serious charges. “These teenagers, these young people, who now have felony convictions on their records, they’ve ruined their lives for 15-hundred dollars,” stated Leticia Zamarripa, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Perez is currently being held at the El Paso Detention Center and is due in courton Wednesdayfor a preliminary hearing.
