SANTAQUIN — Three illegal immigrants living in Santaquin have been arrested in connection with an Aug. 10 stabbing of another illegal immigrant in Genola.

The victim suffered five large slashes on his chest, neck and back, and was taken to the Mountain View Hospital after the three men jumped him with a knife, according to a 4th District Court affidavit of probable cause. The three menwere arrested on investigation of aggravated assault with a gang enhancement and were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

After his arrest, one of the men in the stabbing allegedly told police he and the others owed the victim approximately $1,800 for smuggling them and some of their family members into the United States from Mexico, according to the affidavit. The victim told police he only loaned them the money because he thought they were nice guys.

The victim told police he met the three men earlier in the evening at a Little Caesar's Pizza restaurant in Payson at which time they gave him $200 of $800 he had loaned them a month earlier. When the man returned to his home later in the evening, the three men were at his house waiting for him, according to the affidavit. He told police the men started hitting and kicking him before one of them cut him with a razor knife.

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