McALLEN, Texas -- An Ohio teenager in a taxi has been accused of trying to smuggle a baby from Mexico through Texas and to Nebraska.
Anna Crystal Paloma, of Cincinnati, remains in custody after arraignment last Thursday on human smuggling charges.
Federal prosecutors in McAllen say the 19-year-old Paloma had a 4-month-old girl with her in a cab and crossed the border Aug. 4. Investigators say Paloma falsely said the child was her niece and she was taking the baby to relatives in Nebraska.
A Nebraska birth certificate that Paloma had doesn't belong to the child.
A mother from Mexico later claimed the baby. Investigators believe the mother meant to enter the U.S. illegally and join her child at an undisclosed Nebraska location.
An attorney for Paloma didn't immediately return a message Tuesday.
