Latest news with #ChevyTraverse
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Polly Wanna Cross The Border? 20 Parrots Nabbed In Texas Smuggling Fiasco
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Hidalgo, Texas, made an unexpected and noisy discovery: 20 undeclared parrots stuffed inside a single vehicle. According to a report from CBP officials, a 22-year-old woman driving a 2022 Chevy Traverse was stopped on July 7 as she attempted to enter America from Mexico. Officers flagged the suspicious vehicle for a follow-up inspection, during which they uncovered 20 large birds hidden in a bag inside the SUV. The woman, an American citizen, was immediately arrested. The parrots, which are protected under international and U.S. law, were later safely handed over to Texas Game Wardens, who transported them to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. Both Homeland Security and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have launched a criminal investigation into the woman's smuggling attempt. 'Our frontline CBP officers and agriculture specialists continue to maintain resolute vigilance amid heavy holiday weekend traffic and that mission dedication led to the interception of 20 parrots. CBP remains committed to preventing the exploitation of protected animals and the spread of animal diseases,' said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez. Parrots fall under strict import regulations due to their protected status under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The illegal transportation of these birds can carry serious penalties and pose public health risks, including the potential spread of avian diseases. As summer travel ramps up, CBP reminds the public that officers at all ports of entry, whether by land, air, or sea, are on constant watch for not only drugs and weapons but also wildlife trafficking. Smuggling exotic animals is a big enough business. In May, a woman pleaded guilty to federal charges after attempting to smuggle five diaper-wearing spider monkeys from Mexico into Texas, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Stopped on January 13 at Laredo's Port Of Entry, Priscilla Sanchez first claimed she had nothing to declare, but officers found the monkeys hidden in a warm, heavy duffel bag during a further inspection. She admitted knowing the smuggling was illegal and said she planned to sell the animals for profit. Sanchez could face up to 20 years in prison for the smuggling attempt.
UPI
5 days ago
- UPI
20 parrots found during border crossing, U.S. agents in Texas say
July 8 (UPI) -- Birds of a feather flock together, and now 20 parrots do so at a Texas zoo after U.S. border agents intercepted the undocumented birds from someone attempting to enter the United States. Officials of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, with the help of agriculture specialists, found 20 undeclared parrots on Monday at the Hidalgo Port of Entry in Texas after a 22-year-old female American citizen applied for re-entry into the United States. "Our frontline CBP officers and agriculture specialists continue to maintain resolute vigilance amid heavy holiday weekend traffic and that mission dedication led to the interception of 20 parrots," said Hidalgo's Port Director Carlos Rodriguez. It occurred at the Hidalgo International Bridge. But the type of parrot species was not immediately clear. The unidentified woman driver, operating a 2022 Chevy Traverse, was referred by CBP officers for a secondary inspection where border officials spotted the birds hidden inside the vehicle in a bag. The driver was arrested and the parrots transported by state game wardens to Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. The import of parrots to U.S. shores is regulated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the species is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. In 2017, some 93 exotic birds were found in Los Angles stuffed inside the luggage of a man who arrived from Vietnam with 50 still alive at time of inspection. Meanwhile, a criminal investigation into Monday's incident in Texas was initiated by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. America's border agency "remains committed to preventing the exploitation of protected animals and the spread of animal diseases," the Hidalgo port chief added Tuesday.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Man pleads no contest to manslaughter, DUI in Pioneer Dr fatal crash
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A man accused of driving drunk when his SUV collided with a car in east Bakersfield has pleaded no contest to a charge of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, according to court records. Gabriel Coronel, 33, also pleaded no contest to DUI causing injury in connection with the fatal crash that occurred last year on Pioneer Drive east of Denison Lane, records show. He faces seven years and eight months in prison, prosecutors said. A sentencing hearing is scheduled next month. Early on Feb. 17, 2024, Coronel's Chevy Traverse collided with a Honda Accord. The Honda had four occupants. Three were found unconscious by California Highway Patrol officers, according to court documents, including a woman in the front passenger seat who was later pronounced dead. Coronel told investigators the Honda veered into his lane, but physical evidence revealed the westbound Chevy crossed the yellow line and collided with the eastbound Honda, according to the documents. Breath tests revealed Coronel's blood-alcohol content at 0.12 and 0.13%, above the 0.08% legal limit, documents said. The driver of the Honda was also intoxicated, documents said, and was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI charges. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mauldin police seek information locating jugging suspects
GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Mauldin police are seeking information after a 'jugging' that happened in April. Jugging is an act of crime where suspects will watch unsuspecting victims make a ATM withdrawal, follow them, and break into their vehicle hoping the victim left the cash inside. On April 26, a victim left a Wells Fargo Bank, on Woodruff Road at around 11 a.m., after making a cash withdrawal of over $6,600, according to the Mauldin Police Department. The victim stopped at a QuikTrip on E. Butler Road shortly after to grab a drink, leaving the envelope of cash in the driver's side door. WHAT IS JUGGING?: Be vigilant: Simpsonville police share tips to avoid ATM thefts Police said that the jugging suspects broke into the victim's vehicle, a Toyota Tundra, and stole the envelope while the victim was inside. The suspects were driving a silver, 2024 or 2025 Chevy Traverse. They fled the QuikTrip at around 11:17 a.m., police said. If you have any information regarding this crime, please contact the Mauldin Police Department at (864) 289-8900, option 3. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
29-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Prosecutors rest case at Karen Read trial
'So I thought, could I have run him over?' Read told the interviewer. 'Did he try to get [to] me as I was leaving, and I didn't know it?' She said the music and heat were 'blasting' inside the SUV and she had the wipers on. Advertisement 'Did he come and hit the back of my car and I hit him in the knee and he's drunk and passed out and asphyxiated or something?' Read said. 'And then when I hired [lawyer] David Yannetti I asked him those questions. ... 'David, what if I ran his foot over'' or struck him in the knee and 'he passed out.' Yannetti told her under that scenario, 'You have some element of culpability,' she said. Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. Prosecutors allege she backed her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage into O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, after dropping him off outside the Canton home around 12:30 a.m., following a night of bar-hopping. Advertisement Her lawyers say she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the home, owned at the time by a fellow Boston officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by a German shepherd before his body was planted on the lawn. Read's first trial ended in July with a hung jury, and she remains free on bail. Before jurors viewed the interview clip Thursday, Judson Welcher, a biomechanical engineer and crash reconstructionist, completed his cross-examination by Read attorney Robert Alessi. Alessi spent much of the morning pressing Welcher about laser-scan testing he conducted at O'Keefe's driveway in October. The testing was done in an effort to determine whether Read's right taillight could've been damaged when she lightly backed her SUV into O'Keefe's parked Chevy Traverse around 5 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, as she left to go look for him. Welcher said his testing revealed that while the Lexus and Traverse did make contact, the Lexus's taillight remained about an inch away from the Traverse. Alessi showed a photo from one of Welcher's slides that appears to show Read's taillight by the Traverse, with no daylight between the vehicles. Alessi asked if the photo shows the taillight actually touching the Traverse, and Welcher said it does not. Alessi also asked if the depiction in the slide didn't show Read's taillight 'jutting out,' as a separate photo did. 'It does,' Welcher said of his slide. 'Those are actually more on the side of the vehicle. You can't see them in this image.' Welcher said the security camera in October was positioned slightly more to the right than the January 2022 camera that O'Keefe had installed at the time. He said he and his team accounted for the discrepancies and 'corrected' them in the report. Advertisement Before Welcher returned to the stand, without the jury present, Alessi argued that he should be allowed to ask him about a key 'Techstream' event recorded by Read's Lexus that Welcher said indicates she drove her SUV in reverse on Fairview Road with the accelerator pressed down 74 percent, reaching a speed of nearly 24 miles per hour. Techstream events refer to sudden movements such as abrupt stops or putting a vehicle into a reverse. Alessi told Judge Beverly J. Cannone that a report from State Police Trooper Joseph Paul, a crash reconstructionist, is 'problematic' for the prosecution's narrative. 'If you work backwards from his key cycles [for the Lexus], you end up with' the reversal maneuver 'being not in front of 34 Fairview, but it ends up when the Lexus is in the possession of the state.' Read's SUV was towed from her parents' home in Dighton late on the afternoon of Jan. 29, 2022, and brought to a Canton police garage for processing. Brennan, the prosecutor, countered that the defense was 'trying to pit the inadmissible opinion of a non-testifying witness against a testifying witness.' 'They want the jury to hear their perspective that a past witness had confusion in their analysis, but they don't want to call the witness,' he said, referring to Paul. Cannone ultimately ruled that Alessi couldn't ask Welcher about the issues related to Paul's findings. The defense will begin presenting its case to the jury Friday at 9:30 a.m. Cannone said she would speak with the attorneys outside the jury's presence at 9 a.m.. Advertisement The trial is 'ahead of schedule,' Cannone said. Material from prior Globe stories was used. Travis Andersen can be reached at
