LUKE TURF

Twenty-three suspected illegal immigrants became robbery victims while trying to sneak into the United States yesterday.
Border Patrol agents got a call from a state Department of Public Safety officer at about 2:45 a.m. after one of the 23 escaped from the robbers and flagged down a patrol car near Three Points, said Border Patrol spokesman Andy Adame.

The man told DPS he and his fellow trekkers were stopped by five men who demanded their money and valuables at gunpoint. Pima County sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Dawn Barkman said the robbers threatened to hold the other 22 Mexican men and extort money from their families.

Border Patrol agents, DPS officers and Pima County deputies, along with two helicopters, found the group at about 6 a.m. The migrants followed instructions to get down on the ground, Barkman said. The five suspects fled but were caught within an hour.

Barkman said the 23 men were turned over to the Border Patrol. They will be handed over to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for an investigation, Adame said. Barkman said at least one weapon, a shotgun or rifle, was found.

Francisco Verdu-Fernandez, 26; Manuel Palma-Soto, 19; Jesus Solis, 17; Andres Torres-Castro, 21; and Eduardo Soto, 25, all of Sinaloa, Mexico, were booked into the Pima County Jail on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, extortion and kidnapping, Barkman said. Those charges may be changed when they get to the Pima County Attorney's Office because of multiple victims in the case, she said.