River guide admits to role in death of smuggled man found in Granjeno

A Mexican man pleaded guilty Thursday to leading a Guatemalan man across the Rio Grande who was later abandoned by a brush guide after he became distressed.

The man, Jose Noel Castillo-Perez, died at a McAllen hospital at 4:25 a.m. on July 17, 2024.

Jose Guadalupe Antonio-Arredondo admitted to guiding the man across the river on July 12, 2024, court records show.

After Castillo-Perez was taken to the hospital, a concerned citizen alerted Border Patrol that a person he suspected was in the country illegally was hiding at a nearby residence.

“Agents responded to the address of the call and made contact with the concerned citizen,” the complaint stated. “The citizen reported that he was the owner of the property and stated someone was attempting to hide in the rear enclosed porch of his residence.”

The man gave agents consent to enter the property, which is where they encountered Perla Lucero Herrera-Serrano, a Mexican citizen who was in the country illegally.

Herrera-Serrano has pleaded not guilty. She’s the accused brush guide who abandoned Castillo-Perez.

“Herrera-Serrano reported she had been traveling with a male who had fainted earlier that morning and claimed she left him to seek help,” the complaint stated.

Border Patrol agents determined she was involved in the smuggling attempt because unlike Castillo-Perez, she was not wearing a bracelet indicating she had paid a smuggling fee.

This is a common practice among smuggling organizations. Bracelets are color coded to indicate which organization is smuggling someone and indicating those being smuggled have paid.

The complaint said she also had a cellphone and had attempted to hide rather than seek help.

“Agents identified the trail that Castillo-Perez and Herrera-Serrano had utilized to travel north from the border wall,” the complaint stated. “Agents noted that the trail only contained the foot sign of two subjects, consistent with the foot sign of Herrera-Serrano and Castillo-Perez.”

The foot sign showed that Herrera-Serrano turned south where agents found Castillo-Perez.

Another suspect in the case — Jorge Antonio Campos-Flores — pleaded guilty to being involved in a separate incident with the same smuggling organization and was sentenced to time served for the approximately four months he was in custody.

Antonio-Arredondo is scheduled to be sentenced in late June.

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