By Phil Helsel—
NBC News
A Texas coyote who tried to smuggle two Mexican migrants hiding inside a coffin into the country has pleaded guilty to human smuggling, prosecutors said.
Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint near Falfurrias, Texas, discovered two men hiding inside a coffin in the back of a Dodge Caravan van driven by 33-year-old Zachary Taylor Blood on October 26. Galveston resident, according to court documents.
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Blood had previously indicated that inside the coffin was "a dead Navy person," but he did not count on the fact that the border officials he was lying to were Army veterans.
Agents noted that the casket was rusted and dented, and the American flag that covered it was held in place with clear tape, a Border Patrol officer wrote in an affidavit filed as part of the criminal case.
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The men hiding inside the casket told agents they
had paid the coyotes $6,000 to
bring them into the United States from Mexico;
according to his account, they were taken to a parking lot where Blood told them to get into the coffin, according to the affidavit.
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Blood's attorney, Simon Purnell, said his client has accepted responsibility but cannot comment on details of the case before sentencing.
Blood is in pretrial detention.
He now faces up to five years in prison, according to the Texas Southern District Attorney's Office.
Sentencing was set for May 11, according to court records.