A Texas lawyer has been detained after being accused of importing four illegal immigrants from Mexico and is now facing four charges of human smuggling.
Timothy Dan Japhet, a lawyer from Corpus Christi, was detained last week in Kinney County on August 13. Constable Jimmy Fullen claims that he was stopped on Ranch Road 674 close to Brackettville by Galveston County deputies and a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper.
As a part of Operation Lone Star, Abbott’s task force that is stepping up security to combat illegal immigration, the deputies were in Kinney County.
According to the constable, they were conducting a traffic check when they heard a car traveling quickly toward them. The automobile was pursued by a trooper and a deputy until it crossed the middle line. The trooper moved to the passenger side of the car while the deputy started a traffic stop on the driver’s side.
Japhet said Galveston County Constable Jimmy Fullen got two things wrong in his viral Facebook post. Japhet said he was not cited for resisting arrest and that he is not a "federally appointed immigration magistrate." https://t.co/1JyJnwYyMq
— KYTX CBS19 (@kytxcbs19) August 22, 2022
According to Japhet, the man in the front seat begged for a ride to his job site, and the three people in the rear seat leaped in response. He continued that he was speeding because he wanted to get pulled over by the police, but the constable refuted that assertion.
The constable continued by saying that Japhet had likewise disobeyed orders. He said that when requested to do so, Japhet resisted handing up his driver’s license, turning off the engine, and getting out of the car. As the deputy attempted to enter his door through the glass, he said that Japhet reportedly smacked her hand.
The constable also remarked that the road was a well-traveled path for smugglers attempting to avoid discovery, and the four passengers in the car were eventually identified as migrants from Mexico.
Japhet stated that after finding the Del Rio closed and having to transport them to another place in San Antonio, he had been providing them a ride to their job site in Del Rio. Japhet is currently charged with four charges of human smuggling, a third-degree crime punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and two to 10 years in prison. Although there hasn’t yet been an indictment, the deputy constable promised to prosecute him with resisting arrest.
