Accident News

Man Sentenced For Illegal Transportation Of Aliens In Connection With Fatal Accident

DES MOINES - On January 20, 2006, Carlos Alberto Vasquez-Vasquez, 25, of Mexico, was sentenced to 51 months imprisonment for the transportation of illegal aliens, announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. United States District Court Judge Ronald E. Longstaff also ordered Vasquez-Vasquez to serve a 4-year term of supervised release following his incarceration. Vasquez-Vasquez will be deported following his incarceration.

Vasquez-Vasquez entered a guilty plea to the immigration charge on August 26, 2005. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Longstaff found that the evidence in the case established that Vasquez-Vasquez was the driver of a van containing nine other illegal aliens that was involved in an accident with a semi-tractor trailer on March 4, 2005, on Interstate 80 in Dallas County. All ten of passengers in the van were injured, three of them fatally. Vasquez-Vasquez’s sentence was enhanced because the court found that he recklessly caused a substantial risk of death or bodily injury. The court found that a substantial risk of death or bodily injury was created by the number of passengers in the van, as well as, the manner in which they were being transported (lack of seat belts and use of rear compartment.)

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	Did You Know?
	Almost 5,000 trucks were involved in fatal death crashes from recent report Large trucks accounted for 9 percent of the vehicles in fatal crashes, but only 4 percent of the vehicles involved in injury and property-damage-only crashes. Of the 4,898 large trucks involved in fatal crashes, 76 percent were combination trucks.