An alien smuggler pleaded guilty to immigration crimes Tuesday, saying he acted with “extreme disregard” for the lives of two Mexican citizens who died while being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border in his trunk.
Nicholas George Zakov, 43, admitted that on Aug. 12, 2014, he attempted to transport Tarcisio Casas-Blanco and Jose Aurelio Quiroz-Casas into the United States by hiding them in the trunk of his 2012 Dodge Challenger. Zakov, a U.S. citizen and resident of Hawthorne, was going to be paid $3,500 for smuggling the two men, according to prosecutors.
Zakov also admitted that he continued to drive through the San Ysidro Port of Entry while ignoring the victims’ pleas to be let out of the trunk due to extreme heat.
At the Port of Entry, officers discovered the two Mexican men unresponsive in the trunk. They later died of hyperthermia and asphyxiation.
Zakov pleaded guilty in federal court to encouraging and inducing illegal aliens resulting in death and bringing illegal aliens into the United States for financial gain.
He faces up to life in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced April 10 by U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia.
— City News Service
