Officials Release Real Name of Immigrant Van Driver Charged in Deadly Minnesota School Bus Crash





MINNEAPOLIS — Immigration officials say they’ve identified the driver of a van that hit a school bus in a crash that killed four children in southwestern Minnesota.

Authorities said the driver is 24-year-old Olga Marina Franco from Guatemala. The woman first gave investigators the name Alianiss Nunez Morales and told them she was from Mexico.

Immigration officials have filed paperwork to keep Franco in custody.

Authorities in Lyon County have charged her with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide.

She’s also charged with running a stop sign and driving without a license.

Franco, who officials said last week is an illegal immigrant, was driving a van that failed to stop at a stop sign last Tuesday before hitting a bus carrying 28 students from Lakeview School, Lyon County Attorney Richard Maes said.

The accident happened near the small town of Cottonwood, in southwestern Minnesota.

Claude Arnold, Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge of investigations, said the agency believes Morales is an illegal immigrant. ICE has filed paperwork to detain her for deportation proceedings after the criminal case is resolved.

The bus driver and at least one motorist said Morales did not stop at the stop sign, court documents said. The bus driver, Dennis Devereaux, told police it appeared the van wasn’t going to stop, and “he did not have time to hit the brakes or accelerate.â€