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CHARLOTTE (MCT) — A van stopped Monday near Kannapolis was packed with undocumented immigrants who paid $1,000 each for transportation from Texas, according to federal criminal complaints filed Tuesday.

The complaint alleges that David Jimenez was paid $650 to drive the van for a Houston-based company, Transportes Amigos. A second man, Ihosvani Gomez-Rodriguez, told investigators he was paid $500 to be co-driver, according to investigators.

The company has apparently been in trouble before. An article in the Washington Examiner said Maryland State Police pulled over a Transportes Amigos van with 11 undocumented immigrants on Interstate 95 in August. Two men were charged with transporting undocumented immigrants for financial gain in that case, the article states.

Transportes Amigos is "a transportation company that transports persons from Houston all over the United States and charges them exorbitant rates," according to Tuesday's criminal complaint.

Jimenez and Gomez-Rodriguez were taken into custody Monday after a Charlotte man called 911 to report his cousin was being kidnapped.

The van was supposed to drop off that cousin, who authorities say was from Mexico, near Interstate 85 and West Sugar Creek Road. But his family couldn't pay the $1,000 fee demanded, so the driver wouldn't let him leave and took off north on I-85.

N.C. Highway Patrol troopers stopped the 15-passenger van on Dale Earnhardt Boulevard in Kannapolis and discovered 16 undocumented immigrants inside, in addition to Jimenez and Gomez-Rodriguez, the complaint alleges.

The 16 passengers were from nine countries, including Mexico, Nicaragua and Ethiopia, investigators said. They are being held by authorities pending hearings.

The complaints allege that both drivers said they knew the passengers were undocumented.

Jimenez and Gomez-Rodriguez, whose age and addresses weren't listed in the documents, are charged with knowingly transporting undocumented immigrants for financial gain.