An illegal alien from Guatemala was arrested on a four-count indictment alleging he led one of the largest human smuggling organisations in the United States.
The ring allegedly smuggled approximately 20,000 illegal immigrants from Guatemala to destinations nationwide over five years.
The defendant held some victims in stash houses as hostages and is responsible for the deaths of seven illegal immigrants — including a four-year-old child — who were killed in a November 2023 car accident in Oklahoma.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Inglewood Police Department are investigating the matter.
Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, aka Turko, 51, of the Westlake neighbourhood near downtown Los Angeles, was arrested on February 28 with his alleged right-hand man, Cristobal Mejia-Chaj, 49, also of the Westlake neighbourhood. The defendants were arraigned the same day and ordered to stand trial on April 22.
A federal magistrate judge also ordered them jailed without bond.
Renoj-Matul allegedly led one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the United States, moving approximately 20,000 illegal immigrants from 2019 through July 2024.
Also charged in the indictment are Helmer Obispo-Hernandez, aka Xavi, 41, a lieutenant in the criminal organisation who is a fugitive, and Jose Paxtor-Oxlaj, 44, a driver for the smuggling organization who is incarcerated in Oklahoma in connection with the fatal November 2023 car accident.
All the defendants are Guatemalan nationals who are or were illegally living in the United States at the time of the alleged offences.
All four defendants are charged with one count of conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States, transporting aliens in the United States, and harbouring aliens in the United States for private financial gain, resulting in death.
Additionally, Renoj-Matul and Mejia-Chaj are charged with two counts of hostage-taking. Obispo-Hernandez and Paxtor-Oxlaj are also charged with one count of transporting aliens into the United States for private financial gain, resulting in death.
A separate federal criminal complaint filed on March 2 charges Obispo-Hernandez with threatening to cut off the heads of an ICE task force officer and members of his family. The threats were allegedly made to the federal law enforcement office on February 28 in the wake of search warrants being executed at Obispo-Hernandez’s residence.
“These smuggling organizations have no regard for human life, and their conduct kills,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally.
McNally added, “Their members pose a danger to the public and law enforcement. We must vigorously enforce our immigration laws so that these organizations cannot operate. The indictment and arrests here have dismantled one of the country’s largest and most dangerous smuggling organisations. This work saves lives, and the members of the organization will now face significant consequences.”
According to the indictment returned February 25 and unsealed February 28, the Renoj-Matul transnational criminal organization operated for at least a dozen years and specialised in smuggling illegal immigrants from Guatemala to the United States, the transportation and movement of those illegal immigrants within the United States — especially between Phoenix and Los Angeles — and harbouring, concealing and shielding of illegal immigrants within the United States.
Renoj-Matual was assisted by associates in Guatemala who solicited illegal immigrants to come to the United States, accepted payment of between $15,000 and $18,000 for each illegal immigrant smuggled into the United States, and coordinated the illegal immigrants’ journeys from Guatemala to the United States.
Mexican smuggling organizations transported the aliens through Mexico and across the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, where they were held in stash houses and eventually picked up by Renoj-Matul’s lieutenants.
The illegal immigrants then — for an additional fee — were transported and moved to various destinations in the United States, including Los Angeles. The immigrants who had not paid their fees were held hostage in a stash house in the Westlake neighbourhood near downtown Los Angeles.
Renoj-Matul directed that the transportation of proceeds from human smuggling be transported from Los Angeles to Phoenix, where they were given to the Mexican smuggling organization to pay the expenses incurred by Renoj-Matul’s transnational criminal organization.
In November 2023, Paxtor-Oxlaj caused a car accident in Elk City, Oklahoma, while he was smuggling illegal immigrants from New York to Los Angeles.
That car accident resulted in the deaths of seven passengers in the vehicle he drove. Of the seven people killed, three were minors, including a 4-year-old child.
Paxtor-Oxlaj was arrested in connection with the accident and was charged in the Western District of Oklahoma with being an illegal alien found in the United States following removal.
He had previously been removed from the U.S. and moved to Guatemala in 2010 but did not have legal permission to reenter the United States.
The indictment further alleges that, from April 2024 to July 2024, Renoj-Matul and Mejia-Chaj held hostage two Guatemalan nationals smuggled into the United States who had not paid smuggling fees.
The defendants allegedly threatened to kill the victims until third parties paid for their release.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court. If convicted of all charges, the defendants each face a statutory maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment.
Also arrested on February 28 was Rolando Gomez-Gomez, aka Chaka, 39, of South Los Angeles, who is charged with one count of being an illegal alien found in the United States following removal, and Juan Lopez Garcia, aka Boxer, 41, of Downtown Los Angeles, who was arrested on a civil removal matter.
Both defendants are alleged lieutenants in the Renoj-Matul transnational criminal organization.
