BUNKER HILL – Federal charges were announced Wednesday against three of 11 alleged illegal aliens arrested on Aug. 5 in Russell County. Undersheriff Max Barrett said the arrests were made outside the Sunmart truck stop near Bunker Hill after a Chevrolet Suburban broke down and the passengers aroused suspicion.

Someone called the sheriff’s office as more and more people emerged from the Suburban and hid in a stand of cedar trees, Barrett said. When officers arrived, the suspects were arrested without incident. "They all came right to us."

The suspects, all adults, were handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wichita, Filemon Rodriguez-Alvarez, 27, a citizen of Mexico, is charged with one count of transporting illegal aliens in the United States and one count of unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported. He was allegedly driving the Suburban.

Co-defendants Nery Martinez-Ascencio, 28, a citizen of Guatemala, and Juan Tzompa-Morillon, 37, a citizen of Mexico, both are charged with unlawfully re-entering the United States after being deported.

Upon conviction, the transportation charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison without parole and a fine up to $250,000, and the re-entry charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison without parole and a fine up to $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.