The Region - News from Jan. 30, 1985

When sheriff’s deputies ordered four men standing around a disabled pickup truck in a Commerce all-night service station to raise their hands, they got more than they expected. Forty more hands suddenly were visible above the high sides of the truck. They belonged, the deputies concluded, to 20 apparently illegal aliens standing in the bed of the truck. Deputy Sean Gallagher had become suspicious when the four men on the ground said they did not need help. He checked and discovered that the vehicle had been reported stolen. Driver Ricardo Ayon Cortez, 23, was booked on suspicion of vehicular grand theft, and the other 23 people were turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.