Truck of ‘green bananas’ was really smuggling 105, feds say. California man convicted

When the Texas trooper pulled over the semi truck an hour from the Mexico border, the driver provided documentation he was hauling green bananas, officials said.

But something didn’t add up.

The trucker didn’t have required paperwork and further perplexing was the company that supposedly packed the produce said it didn’t ship green bananas and the company listed to receive the produce wasn’t expecting them, according to court documents.

Christopher Faust, the 32-year-old Sacramento man driving the truck, told the state trooper he’d traveled from California for work and the previous driver removed the logbook and other documents from the truck, documents say.

But when a U.S. Border Patrol K-9 unit arrived, officials said the dog alerted authorities to either humans or drugs in the trailer, officials said. A search of the trailer revealed 105 migrants in the U.S. without documentation, officials said.

In an interview with investigators, Faust said he had been a truck driver for about seven years but declined to speak about the people in his trailer without an attorney, documents say.

Two Mexico citizens in the trailer told investigators they’d crossed the Rio Grande and fees had been paid to be smuggled into the U.S.

Faust was charged with conspiring to transport and transporting undocumented migrants.

At trial, his attorney argued Faust didn’t know 105 people were in his trailer, officials said. But a representative from the storage facility where Faust said he’d picked up his load testified that Faust had not loaded produce from there, officials said.

A jury convicted Faust after deliberating about four hours, officials said.

He could go to prison up to 10 years and be fined $250,000.

This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Truck of ‘green bananas’ was really smuggling 105, feds say. California man convicted."