Suspected smuggler ID'd, chargedBy Kirk Mitchell
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Launched:11/29/2006 09:39:31 AM MST


An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official looks over the scene in Idaho Springs where a Dodge minivan veered off Interstate 70, hit a tree and rolled over. Four of the up to 15 suspected illegal immigrants in the vehicle died. (Post / John Leyba)

A 23-year-old Mexican national has been charged with mulitple counts of human trafficking and careless driving resulting in death after he was identified as the driver of a van that rolled over Tuesday in Idaho Springs, killing 4 of the 15 occupants.


Jose Francisco Franco-Rodriguez was charged this morning with 14 counts of human trafficking, a Class III felony; 14 counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident and rendering aid, a Class IV felony; 14 counts of reckless endangerment, a Class III misdemeanor; and four counts of careless driving causing death, a Class I misdemeanor.

He is currently being held in the Clear Creek County jail in Georgetown.

Franco-Rodriguez was driving a Dodge van
Jose F. Franco-Rodriguez, 23, faces charges in the deaths of four people, riding in an over-crowded van he was driving. It crashed Nov. 28, 2006 on I-70. (Colorado State Patrol) eastbound on I-70 when he lost control on a snow-packed curve in Idaho Springs, hit a tree and rolled the van, authorities say. Four people who were thrown from the van died of their injuries.

He fled from the accident and was found by sheriff's deputies using dogs about four hours later hiding in a storage shed.

"He's in very deep trouble," Idaho Springs Police Chief David Wohlers said this morning.

The van threw two people out the side and two others out of the back while it rolled. Two of the victims had to be extricated from underneath the van, Wohlers said. One of the dead was a woman who was about four months pregnant, he said.

Ten passengers survived and were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver for treatment.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were interviewing injured passengers this morning, said Jeff Copp, ICE's Denver district special agent in charge.

"It was believed to be a smuggling trip," Copp said.

He said most smugglers aren't used to driving in winter conditions and don't bother to check weather conditions before taking off.

Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.

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