A Texas truck driver was found guilty by a federal jury of trying to smuggle 124 migrants into the United States. while transporting them in a tractor-trailer through a Border Patrol checkpoint.

David William McKeon, 67, was recently found guilty on one count of conspiring to transport unauthorized migrants following a two-day trial.

The principal argument McKeon used throughout the grand jury hearings was that he didn’t realize there were migrants in the tractor-trailer when he was arrested, which is one noteworthy aspect of the case.

A criminal complaint claims that McKeon met a guy at a Popeyes Chicken parking lot in Laredo, Texas, before midnight on April 19 and was given several thousand dollars to deliver a consignment to San Antonio.

According to the complaint, the same anonymous guy took McKeon to a tractor-trailer the next day near Texas’ Highway 359 and disclosed a second rendezvous location on a neighboring dirt road.

McKeon had been told to pick up a sealed trailer from there.

On April 20, the arrest took place. Just north of Laredo in Texas, McKeon was passing through a border crossing on Interstate 35. McKeon allegedly informed officials that he was a citizen of the United States during the initial check and handed over a fake manifest indicating that Austin, the capital of Texas, was his final destination.

Border patrol officers sent the driver to a secondary inspection location after hearing vibrations there during a physical check of the trailer’s seal.

Agents from the Border Patrol then opened the seal on the trailer and discovered the 124 migrants.