PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A trooper stopped a car with dark tinted windows and an Arizona plate Tuesday morning on I-75 southbound in Pasco County.
FHP says the driver, identified as Ernesto Hernandez Perez, provided a Mexican Passport with no stamps for legal entry into the United States. Investigators say they later determined he had illegally crossed the border in Nogales, Arizona.
Authorities say the driver told them he was traveling to Tampa and had stopped in Atlanta along the way. Signs on the floor indicated passengers had recently been in the car, according to law enforcement.
A Border Patrol agent confirmed both Hernandez Perez and the one passenger who was in the car during the traffic stop were both in the country illegally.
When Hernandez Perez was arrested, troopers say “a large sum” of money was found in two bundles in his pocket – along with hundreds of dollars stored separately in his wallet.
Hernandez Perez was booked Tuesday afternoon into the Pasco County Jail. A warrant is being sought for his cell phone, investigators said. He faces a human smuggling charge.
