2 illegal immigrants killed in truck crash near Sierra Vista identified
By Dale Quinn
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.18.2008

The Department of Public Safety identified two Mexican men on Friday who were killed when a truck rolled east of Sierra Vista early this week.
Abel Herrera, 18, of Aguascalientes, and Maximino Tecuapacho, 47, of Teolocholco, died in the wreck, said Officer Joy Craig, a Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.

The men were two of 15 illegal immigrants packed into truck on Sunday that was westbound on Arizona 90 about 7:45 a.m., according to a DPS news release. The driver lost control of the 2001 Dodge extended cab pickup and it rolled, the release said.

The cause of the single-vehicle rollover is still being investigated, Craig said. The pickup had been reported stolen in Phoenix, she said.
Eduardo Rangle, 19, also from Aquascalientes, was critically injured and he remains at a Tucson hospital, Craig said.

The truck’s driver, Francisco Javier Morquecho-Valdez, 19, has been arrested on suspicion of transporting illegal immigrants for profit resulting in death, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The driver and the other occupants are Mexican citizens and were in the country illegally, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Some of the immigrants in the group said that they had crossed into the United States on Sunday near Naco, Ariz., then walked north through the desert to where Morquecho-Valdez picked them up, the release said.

Four of the illegal immigrants identified Morquecho-Valdez as the driver and said they accompanied him in the cab of the truck, according to the release. Another said that he was to pay $2,500 as a smuggling fee and his final destination was New York.

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