Feds charge driver in deaths of 2 illegal immigrants
The Associated Press

Federal prosecutors filed charges Monday in the deaths of two illegal immigrants from Guatemala, the second criminal case since April involving immigration fatalities in southern Utah.

Eswin Enrique Aquino-Lopez, 23, acknowledged he was driving a Ford F-150 last week when it rolled on Utah 59 in Washington County, said Joseph Nicholson, a federal immigration agent.

He said "he wanted to take responsibility for his actions," Nicholson wrote in an affidavit filed to support charges of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death.

A 27-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman died at the scene. They were among eight people in the truck, all from Guatemala or Mexico, authorities said.

Aquino-Lopez is in custody and was scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday. It was not known if he had an attorney. He was transporting the seven passengers to Las Vegas from Casa Grande, Ariz., Nicholson said. The Utah Highway Patrol said the driver fell asleep and lost control of the truck.

Aquino-Lopez was driving some passengers as a favor to a friend while others promised to give him money for gas, Nicholson wrote. Across the state, in the Four Corners area of southeastern Utah, eight illegal immigrants died when a sport utility vehicle rolled April 16. Three people have been charged in that case, including the driver and a man accused of arranging the trip.


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