JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – News4JAX obtained the arrest report for a man facing multiple charges of human smuggling following a traffic stop by the Florida Highway Patrol on Interstate 10 in Jacksonville.
According to the arrest and booking report, a law enforcement official in an unmarked state vehicle noticed an SUV traveling east on I-10 below the posted speed limit with excessive window tint. The report states the SUV had a temporary license plate with no listed state visible. The official, who didn’t have lights or sirens, contacted a trooper to pull the vehicle over.
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According to the report, the driver, identified as Urias Martinez Martinez, did not speak English but was able to communicate in Spanish with the trooper. He was identified by a Mexican ID card and did not have a driver’s license.
The report states that the trooper “reasonably believed that the driver was involved in human smuggling and that the passengers were potential victims of a crime.” It adds that the driver was “unlicensed and in the United States illegally.”
Martinez, the report states, told the trooper that he did not know the seven passengers personally and that he was paid to transport them from Atlanta, Georgia, to Jacksonville. It states the driver told the FHP that his uncle transported the passengers from Arizona to Georgia. Further investigation, the report notes, shows the seven passengers unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico. The report also adds that Martinez, after speaking with a Homeland Security agent, “admitted to illegally entering the United States in 2020 by foot.”
Records on Wednesday afternoon showed Martinez was still in the Duval County jail with an immigration hold.