Truck Yields 18 Immigrants : Arrest: Weighted-down vehicle on Interstate 5 aroused suspicion of CHP officer. It’s not known whether pickup passed through INS checkpoint.

LAKE FOREST —  A stolen pickup truck containing 18 illegal immigrants was waved through--or maneuvered around--the recently reopened U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near San Clemente on Thursday, only to be stopped later in Orange County by an alert California Highway Patrol officer.

When six occupants fled from the truck, which was halted on Interstate 5 at Lake Forest, Officer Todd Wise chased down the driver while a dozen remaining occupants--including several children--huddled in the back.

“They were just sardined into the back of the bed,” said Wise, 36. “The fact that they squeezed people into a vehicle like that to come to the U.S. is a sad situation.”

Other CHP officers apprehended four others who fled from the truck, leaving one still at large.

One occupant said through an interpreter that the migrants had crossed the border individually and each paid $400 to the driver in Oceanside to transport them north.

The driver and other occupants of the truck told Wise that the truck had been waved through the San Onofre checkpoint without the illegal immigrants being detected, according to the officer.

However, Ann Summers, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Border Patrol, said the truck, which was reported stolen Wednesday in San Diego, could have avoided the checkpoint by driving through the Camp Pendleton Marine base.

She said it’s not possible to catch all illegal immigrants at the checkpoint.

Wise, on routine patrol in the northbound lane of Interstate 5 near El Toro Road about 8:30 a.m., noticed something unusual about the full-size pickup truck with a camper shell.

“The cab appeared to have quite a few occupants,” he said. “Also, I noticed the windows were heavily tinted on the driver and passenger side, which is a violation.”

In addition, Wise said, “it looked like it had a lot of weight in it,” so he ordered the truck to pull over.

After briefly pulling to a stop on the shoulder near the Alicia Parkway exit, the pickup sped up to 45 m.p.h. and drove another quarter of a mile, Wise said.

The occupants of the cab ran into a ravine that parallels the freeway and tried to hide in the oleander bushes, the officer added.

Wise, an 11-year CHP veteran, arrested Juvenal Sotello, 25, a Mexican national, on suspicion of auto theft and possession of stolen property.

Border Patrol agents took custody of all the occupants except for the driver, who will be returned to Mexico, according to Summers.

The 71-year-old checkpoint, seven miles south of San Clemente on Interstate 5, was reopened March 5 after being temporarily closed as part of the Clinton Administration’s “Operation Gatekeeper.”

Under that effort, officers were diverted to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an increased enforcement effort there. Officials hope to learn whether it’s more effective to keep the checkpoint operating or permanently divert Border Patrol agents to the international border.

Whether or not a vehicle is stopped at the checkpoint, Summers said, “depends on the actions of the individuals in the vehicle. . . . If there is something someone is trying to conceal, or something that they’re doing that is illegal, there are certain mannerisms that they exhibit that usually tips us off.”

The vehicle itself is also an indicator.

“How does it appear to be riding?” Summers said. “Is it riding real low? Are there brand-new shocks on a real old car? That would indicate to you, along with the actions of the driver, that this might be something to check into.”