‘My loves’ arrested after high-speed human smuggling chase in Mission

All is fair in love and smuggling.

Accused human smugglers Yvonne Briceno and Ricardo Montelongo-Tovar have been arrested after leading local, state and federal law enforcement authorities in a high-speed chase from Los Ebanos to Mission, all while holding a 6-year-old child in their lap.

These are the allegations detailed in a criminal complaint, indicating that on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 9, Briceno and Montelongo-Tovar attempted to smuggle an unidentified Guatemalan man from Los Ebanos to Mission.

U.S. Border Patrol said in a criminal complaint that agents assigned to the McAllen station were alerted to camera activity capturing what they described as a “suspicious Chevrolet Tahoe” traveling down a dirt road near the Los Ebanos port of entry.

At about 3:06 p.m., agents witnessed a man run from a brushy area toward the Tahoe, which drove away.

Agents alerted Sullivan City police and the Texas Department of Public Safety who assisted in a high-speed chase that reached speeds of 100 mph.

The chase began after agents tried positioning themselves behind the Tahoe while it was stopped near a convenience store gas pump, but it sped off onto U.S. Highway 83.

The driver failed to yield, running red traffic lights and driving on the shoulder at one point. It was after turning onto Abram Road in Mission that the Tahoe abruptly stopped near some brush, ending a 15-minute chase.

Briceno was identified as the driver while Montelongo-Tovar was seated in the front passenger side and was carrying an unrestrained 6-year-old child on his lap.

Vitalino Ruminez-Chiguil, a citizen of Guatemala, who said he was illegally present in the U.S., was in the rear passenger seat, according to the complaint.

Ruminez-Chiguil said he was planning to pay $6,500 to be smuggled into the U.S., claiming he crossed the Rio Grande in a raft with a guide and was told he would be picked up in a black, four-door SUV.

He said the guide called him via cellphone two hours later and told him to come out of the brush to be picked up, the complaint stated.

The driver and passenger told him to duck down and were referring to each other as “my love,” he told authorities in the complaint, adding that he heard Briceno say they were being followed and that Montelongo-Tovar told her to drive faster.

According to the complaint, Ruminez-Chiguil told agents he “feared for his life” due to the “excess driving speeds” and because the vehicle almost rolled over.

The relation of the child to the suspects is not immediately known.

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