Posted on 11/29/2006 7:19:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
DENVER - The driver of a minivan that careened off a snowy highway with 14 passengers inside — killing four and injuring 10 — was jailed Wednesday on suspicion of human smuggling.
Jose Francisco Franco-Rodriguez, 23, was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail on 14 counts of human smuggling, four counts of careless driving resulting in death, 14 counts of failing to give aid and 14 counts of reckless endangerment, Idaho Springs Police Chief Dave Wohlers said. Immigration officials also placed a detainer hold on him, Wohlers said.
Everyone in the van was believed to be a Mexican national, Wohlers said.
Three men and a pregnant woman were killed, said Carl Rusnok, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Of the survivors, a woman and four men were in ICE custody Wednesday, and five others were in the hospital. Their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
After the crash, the driver ran off but was found two miles away about four hours later, the State Patrol said.
Human smuggling is a federal crime, but this year, the Colorado Legislature made it a state felony to receive money to help someone enter the U.S. illegally.
The driver had $329 with him and told authorities a smuggling organization in Phoenix had given him $400, Rusnok said. The driver reported that he was to receive more money for gas when he got to Kansas City.
Federal charges were pending.
Franco-Rodriguez's public defender, Aaron Gaddis, did not immediately return a phone message.
The van lost control Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 70, struck a tree and rolled in Idaho Springs, in the mountains about 20 miles east of Denver, investigators said.
The State Patrol said the driver appeared to have been going too fast for conditions.
In this photo provided by the Colorado State Patrol, Nov. 29, 2006, Jose Francisco Franco-Rodriguez is shown in Georgetown, Colo. Jose F. Franco-Rodriguez, the driver of a minivan that careened off Interstate 70 in Colorado during a snowstorm, leaving four people dead and 10 injured, was jailed Wednesday on suspicion of human smuggling. (AP Photo/Colorado State Patrol)
ping
If this guys is a citizen of the U.S., he should be stripped of citizenship and deported along with his illegal alien smugglees.
Prayers for the victims. Unfortunately, had they not been here illegally, they'd still be alive.
The mentality of people cramming themselves into a van with this guy has to be in question. This is what is being imported into America by the millions every year.
The author got it wrong. Five people were killed not four.
News accounts around Denver indicate as many as 500 of these smuggling vans are driving across Colorado DAILY.
The driver of this van had been deported four times with the most recent deportation just four weeks ago. More from http://www.9news.com/ :
The driver immediately fled the crash, but was captured a couple of hours later. He is identified as 23-year-old Jose Franco-Rodriguez, a Mexican national.
He has reportedly been deported four times, the last time just four weeks ago.
They say a minivan jammed with 14 or 15 immigrants was dispatched from the center every eight hours.
Idaho Springs police say a second minivan broke down near Georgetown about eight hours after the Idaho Springs accident.
It was also filled with illegal immigrants, some of whom also spoke of a smuggling center in Tucson, Arizon.
Mexican nationals = illegals
guess they won't stop this lucrative business til every south american and mexican are in the U.S., and their pockets are heavy.
Deserves repetition. The border is a well-oiled revolving door.
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