Siblings among 4 people from Harris and Montgomery Counties accused of smuggling 8 others
KINNEY COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A group from Willis and Spring are accused of smuggling eight people in a county west of San Antonio, with one of the suspects punching himself in the face in an attempt to make it look like someone else did it, said authorities on Wednesday.
Blake Edward Speaker, of Willis, and Kaden Douglas Rouse, of Conroe, face eight counts of smuggling of persons.
Brooklyn Elizabeth Speaker and Karly Jane Pearce, both of Spring, are also accused in the incident.
It all began when officials with the Kinney County Sheriff's Office said they saw two vehicles stopped on RR 334.
According to deputies, Brooklyn, Blake's sister, was behind the wheel of one of the vehicles while Pearce, the girlfriend of one of the suspects, was in the passenger seat, allegedly acting as "scouts" to look out for law enforcement.
Blake punched himself in the face and claimed one of the people being smuggled did it to force him to drive them, officials said. Meanwhile, Rouse was allegedly in the front seat.
Deputies did not say what charges Brooklyn and Pearce could face.
Kinney County is west of San Antonio, in the Rio Grande Plain region. According to figures from the United States Census Bureau, the county has an estimated population of 3,130 as of July 1, 2021.
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