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Brother defends accused immigrant smuggler

LAREDO, Texas — Julio Cesar Pacheco, a National Guardsman accused of conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the country, was a changed man when he returned from a tour in Iraq, his older brother said.

“He looked different,” Benito Pacheco told The Associated Press this week. “When he came back he said, ‘The Army changed me, brother.’ The kid in him ended, and now the man came out.”

The younger Pacheco, who earned a Purple Heart, could not find a job when he got home, so he joined the Texas Guard. He volunteered when President Bush ordered Guardsmen to help the Border Patrol stop illegal immigrants.

Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, 25, is the alleged ringleader among three Guardsmen accused of conspiring to smuggle more than 100 illegal immigrants past a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint they were assigned to monitor. He has pleaded not guilty.

“He’s not that type of person,” Benito Pacheco said. “It’s not in his character.”

Benito Pacheco said his brother was committed to being a soldier and fulfilling his duties. He cited his brother’s commendation for helping his fellow soldiers during an attack at their base in Iraq.

“He didn’t care about his life, he cared about his comrades, his duty,” Benito Pacheco said.

But federal investigators say Julio Pacheco recruited Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr., 36, of Houston, and Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres, 26, of Laredo, to help with the smuggling ring.

Torres was arrested June 7 after a van he was driving carrying 24 illegal immigrants was stopped along Interstate 35 about 65 miles north of Laredo near Cotulla. He cited Hodge and Pacheco as his cohorts.

Torres detailed the plot after his arrest and investigators found a series of cell phone text messages in which the soldiers planned several smuggling runs. They successfully delivered 88 immigrants and covered more than 1,200 miles in eight trips southeast Texas.

Hodge, who is accused of waving Torres’ van through the I-35 checkpoint in May and June, also pointed the finger at Pacheco, records show.

Torres and Hodge have also pleaded not guilty. All three remain jailed in Laredo and are scheduled to stand trial in August.

Torres is accused of earning between $1,000 and $3,500 for smuggling immigrants. It’s not clear how much Pacheco and Hodge are alleged to have earned or who paid them.

Prosecutors have detailed eight smuggling trips from May 15 to June 7, each allegedly starting with Julio Pacheco contacting Torres and directing him to a house in Laredo, while Hodge later waved the National Guard van through the I-35 checkpoint. Prosecutors have not identified a motive.

Benito Pacheco said he did not know of any financial trouble his brother was having, and said he had saved enough money during his active-duty Army career to buy a double-wide trailer with his wife, from whom he is separated.

Benito Pacheco said he believes his brother would have turned in anyone who approached him to help smuggle immigrants, especially because his dream was to become a Border Patrol agent.