Missing body leads to arrest

The recent fatal accident that sent two men spiraling off the Mark Clark Expressway in an SUV took a strange turn this week when the body of one of the men temporarily turned up missing.

Charleston police say a man claiming to a be a close relative of Victor Pineda, one of the men killed in the accident, may have bilked Pineda's family in Mexico out of thousands of dollars under the guise that he was making arrangements to have Pineda's body transported to Mexico for burial.

The apparent scam surfaced Tuesday when Leo and Teresa Pineda, an aunt and uncle of Victor Pineda, arrived in Charleston to claim their nephew's body and learned it already had been released and sent to an Upstate funeral home that specializes in repatriation burials.

Berkeley Coroner Glenn Rhoad said his office followed procedure and released the body based on consent from relatives. But police say Andres Pineda is actually a distant cousin who has a criminal record in Mexico and didn't have permission to have the body released. Andres Pineda was taken into police custody Tuesday and turned over to federal immigration authorities because he was living in this country illegally.

Victor Pineda, 21, died Friday after a tire blew on the Ford Explorer in which he was a passenger. The SUV flipped numerous times on the Mark Clark Expressway before toppling over a barrier and falling 60 feet to the marsh below. The driver, Florentino Castillo, 31, also died in the accident.

The men lived near Chapel Hill, N.C., and were staying in a hotel in the Charleston area while working on a plumbing job at a new apartment complex on Daniel Island. They were driving over the expressway to the job Friday when the rear driver's side tire blew and spun the vehicle out of control. Rhoad said he is still waiting to hear back from federal authorities as to the immigration status of the men.

Both men worked for Castillo's brother, Perfecto Castillo, who handled the arrangements for Florentino Castillo.

Unbeknownst to Perfecto Castillo, Victor Pineda's uncle and aunt were driving down from Chicago to take charge of the body. Leo and Teresa Pineda read about their nephew's car accident on the Internet. The couple immediately contacted their sister Maria, Victor's mother, in Mexico. "She wants her son back. So we said 'Sure, we'll do that for you,' " Teresa Pineda said.

So they made the 16-hour drive to Charleston, arriving about 11 p.m. Monday.

Victor Pineda's body was taken to Medical University Hospital the day of the accident, and co-worker Greg Cantwell began working with Perfecto Castillo to handle the arrangements. "I called the coroner's office, ambulance services, policemen," said Cantwell, who speaks a little Spanish. "The coroner would call me when he had to talk to Perfecto. I didn't handle anything. I just translated. Andres signed off on releasing Victor's body."

The Berkeley County Coroner's Office released the bodies of both men to Harper Memorial Chapel in Taylors on Saturday. The funeral home specializes in repatriation of bodies, mostly to Mexico.

Rhoad said his office spoke with Andres Pineda, who also provided the phone number of someone he said was a brother of Victor Pineda in Wilmington, N.C.

"We contacted the brother, and he contacted the mother in Mexico," Rhoad said. "The brother made the decision to have the body transported to a funeral home. We did everything as close to the manual as we can do it."

Donna Harper, owner of Harper Memorial Chapel, said she, too, was unaware of the suspected ruse. "We simply were selected by the family member, Andres, who had taken responsibility for the care of him," she said.

Leo and Teresa Pineda finally arrived in Charleston late Monday and went to the Charleston Police Department the next morning, where they learned the body had been driven to Greenville.

"Who took the body?" Teresa Pineda asked.

Charleston police Sgt. Gerry McDevitt worked feverishly Tuesday to answer that question and in the process realized he might also be dealing with a crime.

McDevitt said Andres Pineda, the distant relative, misrepresented the family's intentions to the coroner. The family wanted the body released to Leo Pineda, the uncle, not Andres Pineda. The relative Andres Pineda talked to in Mexico had access to funds but didn't have authority to give him permission, McDevitt said.

Andres Pineda persuaded the relative to wire $3,000 to cover the funeral costs, then another $5,000 when he said the costs were more than expected, McDevitt said. Police are also looking into the possibility that the relative was asked to wire an additional $2,000.

The actual cost for the arrangements to have Victor Pineda repatriated totaled about $2,600, McDevitt said.

Andres Pineda has a criminal record in Mexico that includes serving time in a Mexican federal prison on felony convictions, McDevitt said.

Now Andres Pineda is facing deportation and possible criminal charges, McDevitt said. "I turned him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They're going to follow up on him, see if there are any charges. If not, they're going to deport him to Mexico."

"We're trying to get the $10,000 back, but Andres isn't cooperating at all. He won't tell us where it is," McDevitt said. "It's pretty sad that someone would do this, cheat money off of a mother who has just lost her son."

Leo and Teresa Pineda were in the Upstate later Tuesday night to claim their nephew's body and work with the funeral home to have it transported to Mexico. "We're sad. Upset. Mad. Angry a little bit," Leo Pineda said. "He's my nephew, my family. He was just trying to make a living and now he's dead."

Reach Aubrey Straub at astraub@postandcourier.com. Reach Ron Menchaca at 937-5724 or rmenchaca@postandcourier.com.