Texas authorities arrested a national guardsman over the weekend after he fled from officers while allegedly attempting to smuggle an illegal immigrant into the U.S.
According to the New York Post, officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Kinney County Sheriff's Department arrested Savion Johnson in Brackettville, Texas, after Johnson led law enforcement on a high-speed chase.
Johnson was charged with evading arrest, human smuggling, and the unlawful carry of a weapon.
“If the allegations are true, the accused is a traitor and criminal,” Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris, press secretary for Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, told Fox News in a statement.
“We have zero tolerance for Texans who violate laws that directly contradict the mission we are seeking to achieve. The accused's illegal smuggling may subject him to a mandatory minimum prison sentence of at least 10 years,” Mahaleris added. “He deserves more.”
“It's not a good thing. But he's not the first one we've picked up that's associated with the National Guard,” Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe said. “We've picked up attorneys. Preachers. Old ones, young ones, juveniles. The money is out there.”
Johnson was allegedly offered $5,000 to $6,000 to smuggle the alien, who was also arrested, according to the Post. Johnson allegedly sped away from a Border Patrol checkpoint in a government vehicle and led officers on a 15-mile chase. The vehicle was stopped after officers used spike strips to blow its tires.
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