By Pat Culverhouse

A traffic stop on Interstate 20 Tuesday by a Minden police officer has netted three Guatemalan nationals, including two who are known to be in the country illegally.

Minden Chief of Police Jared McIver said Officer Kendale Booker was working the department’s Safety Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) when he stopped a vehicle for speeding (86 in a 70 mph zone).

McIver said the three men are identified as Arnulfo Xocol-Ambrocio, Jose Salome-Ambrocio and Tzep Cruze-Fernando. The three reportedly were placed in custody after information discovered during background checks.

Both Xocol-Ambrocio and Salome-Ambrocio reportedly had previously been deported after being convicted of violent crimes. McIver said the two reentered the U.S. at an unknown time. Both reportedly have Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers.

Police reportedly learned Cruze-Fernando is not listed on any available database and could also be in the country illegally, McIver said.

McIver said officials from ICE and Homeland Security have been contacted and the suspects were scheduled to be picked up Wednesday.

McIver said Officer Booker and Officer D.J. Anderson recently returned from Cochise County, Arizona, where they worked with the Sheriff’s Office and Border Patrol agents to observe enforcement at the country’s southern border.

“We sent our officers down there so they could see what law enforcement is up against and to learn more about how people are entering the country illegally,” he said. “Interstate 20 is a corridor that we need to watch carefully and what our officers learned paid off.”

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.