Rodney William Gipson, 61, admitted to knowingly transporting 24 undocumented immigrants in his tractor-trailer, federal prosecutors announced.
Gipson, a Houston commercial truck driver with nearly three decades of experience, pleaded guilty to charges of transporting illegal aliens. He acknowledged that he either knew or recklessly disregarded that he was breaking federal immigration law during the February incident.
The case unfolded on Feb. 19 when Gipson drove his tractor-trailer to the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint. He told agents he was transporting cargo from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston, but a Border Patrol K-9 unit detected something suspicious at the rear of his trailer…