Salvadoran teen's death results in smuggling charges

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times

The Fabens man who said he found a sick 14-year-old Salvadoran girl by the side of the road in April might not have been the good Samaritan initially thought, and he now faces smuggling charges.

The man is accused of leaving the girl to die in the back seat of his van even as she asked for help, officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Jose Alfredo Sifuentes Sandoval, 44, called 911 on April 27, saying he had found a semiconscious girl on Alameda Avenue, also known as Texas 20, and taken her to the residence he shared with his parents at 1340 Leaf Street. The girl was taken to Del Sol Medical Center, but she had died of blood clots in her lungs.

Sifuentes was indicted Wednesday evening on charges of conspiracy to smuggle aliens, encouraging and inducing entry and harboring, both resulting in death, aggravated identity theft and three counts of alien smuggling for profit. Sifuentes' girlfriend, Amalia Baquera, nicknamed "La Tia," or Auntie, was also charged with conspiracy. She has not been arrested and is thought to be in Juárez.