A 27-year-old Odessan indicted last September on human smuggling charges was arrested June 21 on an evading arrest charge.
According to a Texas Department of Public Safety report, a trooper spotted a gray pickup truck traveling 86 mph in a 55 mph zone shortly after midnight June 21. When the trooper activated his lights and sirens, the driver of the truck, later identified as Alberto Baeza Leyva, “intentionally and knowingly” evaded him, the report stated.
During the ensuing pursuit throughout West Odessa, speeds reached 110 miles an hour, according to the report. Leyva stopped his car on FM 1936 near milemarker 324 and fled on foot, but was found and taken into custody.
The trooper reported smelling alcohol on Leyva’s breath and wrote that he also had bloodshot and glassy eyes. In addition, the trooper indicated there was an open container of Michelob Ultra in the truck and an opened 18-pack of beer in the back set.
Leyva refused to do field sobriety tests and was booked into the Ector County jail on the felony charge of evading arrest and driving while intoxicated.
Online Ector County jail records indicate Leyva was arrested on one count of unlawful transportation of a person for pecuniary benefit in March 2021 and released after posting a $7,500 surety bond.
Ector County District Court records indicate he was indicted on six counts of smuggling of persons in connection with the same case in September 2021 and his bond was set at $45,000. Jail records show he was booked on those six counts as well on June 21. He’s scheduled to be arraigned in that case July 6.
