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Bus driver behind wheel again in Texas

He obtained state license after charges were dismissed


12:05 AM CDT on Thursday, September 28, 2006

By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News

McALLEN, Texas – The driver involved in the deadly Hurricane Rita bus fire is driving buses again on a daily route from Laredo to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Juan Robles Gutierrez was accused but later cleared of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the deaths of 23 nursing home patients in the fire. Dallas County sheriff's deputies initially called him a hero but days later said he might be responsible for the accident.

After the charges were dismissed, Mr. Robles, a Mexican citizen who entered the country illegally, was ordered to stay in the Houston area as a material witness.

Immigration agents granted him a work visa, and in April, he said in an interview, an immigration judge granted his request to move to Laredo to be closer to his wife and daughter, who live in Monterrey, Mexico.

He said he worked briefly organizing events at the Laredo Entertainment Center, where concerts and minor league hockey games are held. But he wanted to drive buses again.

In late May or early June, he passed the written driver's exam in Spanish and obtained a commercial driver's license from the Texas Department of Public Safety, he said. At the time of the bus fire, he had a Mexican, but not a U.S., bus license.

Since June, he's been working for Turimex International, driving buses from Laredo on the eight-hour route to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Mr. Robles, 38, is testifying in the federal criminal trial of his former boss, who is accused of instructing drivers to falsify work logs intended to ensure they don't fall asleep at the wheel. He was accompanied Wednesday by his mother and cousin.

E-mail mgrabell@dallasnews.com