Seven Children Discovered in Cargo Area of U-Haul During Webster County Traffic Stop

The highway patrol reports a startling find after what initially started as a routine traffic stop Sunday afternoon near the 100-mile marker of Interstate-44 in Webster County…seven children from 2-13-years-old in the cargo area of a U-Haul truck.

Sergeant Mike McClure tells KRMS News the truck had reportedly left New York enroute to Arizona and was on its way back to New York. During the stop, voices could be heard inside the cargo area prompting the vehicle to be taken to the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, nearby in Marshfield, before the cargo door was opened and the discovery of the children along with four adults was made.

The four adults and three other adults in the passenger area of the truck, were put on 24-hour holds with pending endangering the welfare of a child charges. All but one are from Buffalo, New York, and the other from Glendale, Arizona.

ICE, D-H-S and D-F-S officials were called in and took the children into protective custody. Immigration and trafficking issues were ruled out as factors in the stop.