Docs: Man arrested for illegally transporting people from Mexico to Muncie

MUNCIE, Ind. — A traffic stop by the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office led to the arrest of an individual who was reportedly living in the United States illegally and participating in alleged human trafficking operations in Muncie.

According to court documents filed on Monday in Delaware County, 50-year-old Sergio Velasco has been preliminarily charged with:

• Four counts of human trafficking
• Four counts of promotion of human trafficking
• Three counts of forgery
• One count of OWI with a prior conviction
• One count of OWI endangerment with a prior conviction
• One count of operator never licensed.

Just after 9:45 p.m. on Sunday, a deputy with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office conducted a traffic stop on a silver vehicle in the area of N Martin Luther King Blvd. and W Wald Ave. This comes after the vehicle was reportedly making an “erratic lane change without using a signal.”

During the traffic stop, the driver, later identified as Velasco, reportedly had a false government identification card on him. The documents said that the deputy also smelled a strong odor of alcohol coming from Velasco.

The deputy conducted field sobriety tests on Velasco at the scene and Velasco reportedly had a blood alcohol level of .086, just over the legal limit. During a search of Velasco at the scene, deputies found almost $20,000 in cash, the majority of which was in $100 bills.

Through a translator, Velasco reportedly told deputies that he was “not a drug dealer and that he had all that money because he had gotten it from people he brought over from Mexico.” Velasco was then taken to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office.

In an interview with Velasco through a translator, Velasco reportedly told deputies that he paid $13,500 for two individuals to be brought to the United States from Mexico. The two individuals were reportedly working at a restaurant in Muncie. The money that Velasco had on him was reportedly a payment for one of the individuals.

Velasco told police that once the people from Mexico were brought into the United States, they would be transported to Muncie or other locations in Central Indiana, like Anderson and Indianapolis. The documents said that Velasco would allow them to stay at his house for one night as he secured them a job at a restaurant in Muncie.

“(Velasco) stated that he would work with the managers of the restaurants to secure jobs then he would receive money from the employees he had brought over to recoup the $13,500, plus 5-8% interest,” the documents said.

When asked what would happen if the employees did not pay him, Velasco reportedly said that “they would be talked to and told that they had to pay.”

“(Velasco) also stated that he had ‘people’ in Mexico that would go talk to their family to convince them to pay,” the documents said.

Velasco reportedly told deputies that he had come to the United States in a similar process around 30 years ago and had never established citizenship. The documents said that a group in Indianapolis had helped create identification cards “for everyone that came here.”

The documents said that Velasco is being held on no bond, because of his immigration status.