Feds charge 'El Jefe,' alleged boss of vast human smuggling network behind deadly crash
Federal authorities in Los Angeles have arrested and charged two alleged leaders of a criminal organization said to have smuggled around 20,000 undocumented immigrants from Guatemala to the U.S. over five years — including seven who died in a car crash in 2023.
Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, a.k.a. "El Jefe" and "Turko," and Cristobal Mejia-Chaj were arrested last week and have pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges related to smuggling migrants across the U.S border. A federal judge ordered the men, who are in the country illegally, jailed without bond.
Attorneys for Renoj-Matul and Mejia-Chaj did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The arrests on Friday prompted fears of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement "raid" in Los Angeles. Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, an ICE spokeswoman, previously said there was an 'ongoing investigation on human smuggling.'
According to an indictment filed last week, the "Renoj-Matul transnational criminal organization" operated for at least a dozen years and specialized in transporting migrants from Guatemala. Federal authorities called it one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the country.
Helmer Obispo-Hernandez, allegedly a lieutenant in the organization and a supervisor of a team of drivers, and Jose Paxtor-Oxlaj, who allegedly worked as a driver, have also been charged, according to the indictment.
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Obispo-Hernandez is believed to be in Guatemala, federal authorities said. Paxtor-Oxlaj has been in custody in Oklahoma since Nov. 21, 2023, when he was allegedly involved in a car crash that killed seven people he was transporting to Los Angeles, including three minors, according to the indictment. One of those killed was a 4-year-old, according to local news reports.
Renoj-Matul allegedly worked with associates in Guatemala who solicited immigrants to come to the U.S., charging between $15,000 and $18,000 for each one. Lieutenants within the Renoj-Matul organization led smuggling cells with teams of drivers and operators of stash houses, according to the indictment.
Mejia-Chaj, described as Renoj-Matul's "right-hand man," allegedly operated a stash house on James M. Wood Boulevard in L.A., where people smuggled by the organization were brought and held. After the smuggling fee was paid, the migrants were transported elsewhere in the country, according to the indictment. If the fee was not paid, they would allegedly be held against their will.
Even after the fatal car collision in Elk City in 2023, which Paxtor-Oxlaj allegedly caused, the smuggling continued, according to the indictment. In a 2024 case, an undocumented immigrant, referred to only by her initials M.M.A., was allegedly held against her will in the stash house for three months when the smuggling fee of $15,000 went unpaid.
Read more: Leaked document says 'large scale' immigration enforcement action coming soon to L.A.
According to the indictment, after a third party reneged on paying M.M.A.'s smuggling fees, Renoj-Matul and others in Guatemala called the woman's mother and threatened to harm her daughter, including by warning that she 'would come home in a box' if the fees weren't paid.
Last year, on Aug. 7, an unindicted co-conspirator called M.M.A.'s mother blaming her for a law enforcement search of the Wood house the month prior. According to the indictment, in December, three unidentifed people in Guatemala traveled to M.M.A.'s mother's home in Guatemala and demanded payment, threatening her with firearms.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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