El Paso Man, 37, Charged in Federal Human-Smuggling Stash House Case

Allegedly... Crescencio Amador Pacheco-Olvera, 37, was booked into a New Mexico detention facility on Feb. 26, 2026, under booking number 2600001617. The booking record lists a single felony count described only as "all other offenses," with no bond and no arrest location recorded on the local sheet. The same date matches a federal case detailed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico and reported by KVIA, KTSM and Organ Mountain News. According to those accounts, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Border Patrol responded Feb. 13, 2026, to a failed smuggling attempt involving a tractor-trailer carrying 19 people without legal immigration status at the Las Cruces Border Patrol Checkpoint on Interstate 25. On Feb. 26, 2026, agents executed a search warrant at an El Paso residence and encountered roughly 16 additional people inside. Two material witnesses identified Pacheco-Olvera as the caretaker of the stash house and as a transport driver in the operation, prosecutors said. One witness told investigators they had been driven to the El Paso residence by Pacheco-Olvera after entering through a hole cut in the border fence near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. He is charged with conspiracy to harbor, transport and bring in undocumented individuals, and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He is being held pending trial. Pacheco-Olvera has not been convicted of any offense in connection with these allegations. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.