An early morning traffic stop in Victoria led to the discovery of almost 50 lbs. of marijuana.
A Victoria police officer stopped a 2000 Pontiac with two individuals in it for a traffic violation, unauthorized window tint, at about 9 a.m. Thursday on the 12400 block of U.S. Highway 59 N., said Patrol Sgt. Adam Nieto.
The two males, 18 and 19 years old, had no identification and were detained for INS officers after it was determined that they were illegal immigrants.
While conducting inventory of property in the vehicle, which is department procedure, the officers discovered 48.5 lbs of marijuana, said Nieto, which led to the arrests of both individuals.
Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
September 4, 2008
June 30, 2008
Surface of immigration tragedy only scratched thus far
June 28, 2008 - 4:12 p.m.
Many public servants quietly do their job well.
Victoria Fire Department Capt. Donna Odem-Dollins is just one example. Her touching story is featured in today’s Advocate.
While there’s nothing quiet about the single mother’s brash personality, her story was silent for too long.
Odem-Dollins was one of the first at the scene of this country’s worst human smuggling tragedy ever.
At 2:33 a.m. May 14, 2003, Odem-Dollins hurried along Fleming Prairie Road to a tractor-trailer stuffed with dead immigrants.
In her 20-plus years as a first responder, she’d never seen so much death and pain in one place at one time.
She saw a dead 5-year-old boy, his dead father and teenagers barely older than her own – 19 in all who were dead or dying.
Dozens of other responders also witnessed the horrors that fateful morning.
Victoria Fire Chief Vance Riley arrived at the scene not long after Odem-Dollins did. He’s lucky to have blocked his worst memories, he said.
But memories of the looks on the faces of responders – the shock, the muted fear, the sadness – force Riley to tears still five years later.
Reading and learning about the tragedy will never replicate the hurt these responders carry with them.
Of course, responding to tragedies is their job. They do it on a smaller scale each day.
Every responder agrees, though, this fateful morning was different.
At least 73 illegal immigrants left Harlingen at 10 p.m. May 13, 2003. They climbed into a sealed tractor-trailer with the dream of a better life.
Four hours later, many of the 19 who would die were dead. They succumbed to the suffocating heat, the lack of oxygen and the damage it wrought on their panicky bodies.
You’ve read those two paragraphs in one form or another dozens of times, no doubt.
But what is lost in the familiarity of an over-used passage are the stories buried between those oft-read lines.
Odem-Dollins didn’t just care for the immigrants she found with pulses. She didn’t just relive the story so that it could be told here five years later.
Her life embodies the spirit of a first responder. She’s on the front lines of caring and giving, even when she’s off the clock.
Her professional and personal story, which begins on Page A1, bears remarkable parallels.
Riley, meanwhile, felt a month’s worth of tragedies rolled into one horrific morning.
Reflection on the tragedy offered him a heightened respect for his country.
Men die every day defending the United States, he said, but others die every day just to come here.
If their stories weren’t worth telling, these responders wouldn’t tell them.
If their stories weren’t worth learning from, we wouldn’t seek their meaning.
There is a fine line between exploiting those oft-read lines and exploring them.
Odem-Dollins and Riley show we’ve only scratched a much deeper surface.
Many public servants quietly do their job well.
Victoria Fire Department Capt. Donna Odem-Dollins is just one example. Her touching story is featured in today’s Advocate.
While there’s nothing quiet about the single mother’s brash personality, her story was silent for too long.
Odem-Dollins was one of the first at the scene of this country’s worst human smuggling tragedy ever.
At 2:33 a.m. May 14, 2003, Odem-Dollins hurried along Fleming Prairie Road to a tractor-trailer stuffed with dead immigrants.
In her 20-plus years as a first responder, she’d never seen so much death and pain in one place at one time.
She saw a dead 5-year-old boy, his dead father and teenagers barely older than her own – 19 in all who were dead or dying.
Dozens of other responders also witnessed the horrors that fateful morning.
Victoria Fire Chief Vance Riley arrived at the scene not long after Odem-Dollins did. He’s lucky to have blocked his worst memories, he said.
But memories of the looks on the faces of responders – the shock, the muted fear, the sadness – force Riley to tears still five years later.
Reading and learning about the tragedy will never replicate the hurt these responders carry with them.
Of course, responding to tragedies is their job. They do it on a smaller scale each day.
Every responder agrees, though, this fateful morning was different.
At least 73 illegal immigrants left Harlingen at 10 p.m. May 13, 2003. They climbed into a sealed tractor-trailer with the dream of a better life.
Four hours later, many of the 19 who would die were dead. They succumbed to the suffocating heat, the lack of oxygen and the damage it wrought on their panicky bodies.
You’ve read those two paragraphs in one form or another dozens of times, no doubt.
But what is lost in the familiarity of an over-used passage are the stories buried between those oft-read lines.
Odem-Dollins didn’t just care for the immigrants she found with pulses. She didn’t just relive the story so that it could be told here five years later.
Her life embodies the spirit of a first responder. She’s on the front lines of caring and giving, even when she’s off the clock.
Her professional and personal story, which begins on Page A1, bears remarkable parallels.
Riley, meanwhile, felt a month’s worth of tragedies rolled into one horrific morning.
Reflection on the tragedy offered him a heightened respect for his country.
Men die every day defending the United States, he said, but others die every day just to come here.
If their stories weren’t worth telling, these responders wouldn’t tell them.
If their stories weren’t worth learning from, we wouldn’t seek their meaning.
There is a fine line between exploiting those oft-read lines and exploring them.
Odem-Dollins and Riley show we’ve only scratched a much deeper surface.
June 26, 2008
Bones solve 17-year-old missing person case
Woman went missing after graduation
By David Kassabian (Contact)
Originally published 04:18 a.m., June 26, 2008
Updated 04:18 a.m., June 26, 2008
A farmer's discovery and a DNA swab from a missing woman's grandparents led investigators to a woman killed 17 years ago and the Tuesday arrest of a man connected to the incident.
U.S. Marshals arrested 37-year-old Carlos Zuniga Jr. in connection with the 1991 death of an 18-year-old Victoria woman who vanished two weeks after her high school graduation, said Jim Wells County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Jose S. Martinez III.
The search for April Ann Repka went cold for more than a decade, until a farmer in 2004 found a skull and femur while digging a trench in a field about six miles south of Alice, Martinez said. The remains were sent to a lab in Denton with the hopes DNA could be matched.
The identity of the remains were still a mystery until 2007, when a Victoria County Sheriff's Department investigator asked for help from Jim Wells County authorities with the missing person case. Repka's grandparents submitted a DNA sample that was sent to Denton. Soon after, match test results came back positive.
"Back in 1991, we didn't know we had a homicide or even a crime scene," Martinez said. "In 2004, we thought the remains might have been of an undocumented immigrant passing through the area, which we get a lot of."
After the match, local investigators asked the FBI for help re-examining the field, and a team combing the area found several other items that belonged to Repka, including a class ring and bracelet as well as more bones.
Information obtained when authorities questioned a former Victoria resident three weeks ago led to Zuniga.
He was arrested by authorities in the 2800 block of Niagara Street and brought to the Nueces County jail, where he remained Wednesday evening on a $500,000 bond on a capital murder charge.
Martinez would not release details on how or where Repka died, citing an ongoing investigation, but said that she likely was stabbed.
Contact David Kassabian at 886-3778 or kassabiand@caller.com
By David Kassabian (Contact)
Originally published 04:18 a.m., June 26, 2008
Updated 04:18 a.m., June 26, 2008
A farmer's discovery and a DNA swab from a missing woman's grandparents led investigators to a woman killed 17 years ago and the Tuesday arrest of a man connected to the incident.
U.S. Marshals arrested 37-year-old Carlos Zuniga Jr. in connection with the 1991 death of an 18-year-old Victoria woman who vanished two weeks after her high school graduation, said Jim Wells County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Jose S. Martinez III.
The search for April Ann Repka went cold for more than a decade, until a farmer in 2004 found a skull and femur while digging a trench in a field about six miles south of Alice, Martinez said. The remains were sent to a lab in Denton with the hopes DNA could be matched.
The identity of the remains were still a mystery until 2007, when a Victoria County Sheriff's Department investigator asked for help from Jim Wells County authorities with the missing person case. Repka's grandparents submitted a DNA sample that was sent to Denton. Soon after, match test results came back positive.
"Back in 1991, we didn't know we had a homicide or even a crime scene," Martinez said. "In 2004, we thought the remains might have been of an undocumented immigrant passing through the area, which we get a lot of."
After the match, local investigators asked the FBI for help re-examining the field, and a team combing the area found several other items that belonged to Repka, including a class ring and bracelet as well as more bones.
Information obtained when authorities questioned a former Victoria resident three weeks ago led to Zuniga.
He was arrested by authorities in the 2800 block of Niagara Street and brought to the Nueces County jail, where he remained Wednesday evening on a $500,000 bond on a capital murder charge.
Martinez would not release details on how or where Repka died, citing an ongoing investigation, but said that she likely was stabbed.
Contact David Kassabian at 886-3778 or kassabiand@caller.com
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