Thread: Utah SUV With Immigrants Rolls, 6 Dead

Guatemalan driver appears in SLC court on homicide charges
Rigoberto Salas-Lopez accused of with killing 8 in San Juan rollover
By Roxana Orellana
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:04/18/2007 04:44:09 PM MDT

Posted: 3:59 PM- A 30-year-old Guatemala man accused of causing the traffic deaths of eight immigrants in San Juan County appeared in court Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
With a calm demeanor, Rigoberto Salas-Lopez listened through an interpreter as U.S. Magistrate Judge David Nuffer explained the defendant's rights.
The judge appointed a public defense attorney, Viviana Martinez, to Salas-Lopez, who is charged with one count of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Kennedy said the charge is punishable by death or life in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Kennedy verified Salas-Lopez was in the country illegally and that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a detainer on the suspect.
A preliminary hearing was scheduled for May 2 at 1:45 p.m. An arraignment hearing will follow at 10 a.m. on May 3. Both hearings will be before Magistrate Brooke Wells.
Before the hearing, Salas-Lopez asked Martinez to call his parents in Guatemala to thell them he was OK.
Salas-Lopez, a native of Guatemala, was taken into custody on Monday after the Chevrolet Suburban he was driving rolled in south of Bluff, killing eight of the 14 people on board.
Salas-Lopez has acknowledged he was the driver of the car, according to the complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Witnesses say he was sexually abusing a female passenger when the accident occurred.
Authorities have identified only one of the fatal victims, Hermilo Velasquez, 18, of Chiapas, Mexico, the brother of the alleged sexual abuse victim.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5696539?source=rss

Last Sunday in the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper they stated that the UHP does not stop and deport these illegals when they see them on these canyon roades. They stop them and tell them to be careful. What a joke Utah is. (Govenor Huntman, Senators Hatch and Bennett, Congressmen Cannon and Matheson) You have blood on your hands and are breaking the laws when you tell the UHP to not stop, detain and deport.

Paige

Man pleads innocent in crash that killed eight undocumented immigrants
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune

Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:05/03/2007 02:05:19 PM MDT

Updated: 1:57 PM- A man charged with causing the traffic deaths of eight undocumented immigrants last month in San Juan County pleaded not guilty today to the offense.
And federal prosecutor Michael Kennedy said the U.S. Attorney's Office does not plan to seek the death penalty in this case.
If the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., agrees and 30-year-old Rigoberto Sales-Lopez is convicted, he will face a maximum of life in prison.
Federal Magistrate Brooke Wells set a trial date of July 9. That proceeding, before U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell, is expected to take four or five days.
Sales-Lopez and two other men - Adolfo Manuel Espinoza, who also uses the name Neftali Espinoza, and Felipe Sales-Perez - were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on one count each of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death.
According to a charging document, Sales-Lopez has acknowledged he was driving a Chevrolet Suburban on April 16 when it rolled on U.S. Highway 191 south of Bluff, killing eight of the 14 people on board. Witnesses allege he was sexually abusing a 22-year-old female passenger when the rollover occurred.
Sales-Lopez allegedly told agents with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) that Espinoza gave him the van in Phoenix and paid him $1,000 to drive the passengers from there to St. Louis. He also was paid $500 for gas, the charging document says.
Court records do not give details on the alleged role of Sales-Perez, who was a passenger in the van and is being held on an ICE detainer. An arrest warrant has been issued for Espinoza.
Initial court appearances for the two will be scheduled soon, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Sales-Lopez, who is from Guatemala, is being held in jail pending trial. Immigration authorities say he entered the United States illegally and have placed a detainer on him.
To date, authorities have identified only three of the fatal victims: Hermilo Velasquez, 18, Chiapas, Mexico; Maria Carrillo, 22, Guatemala; and Everinda Lopez, 27, Guatemala. The remaining five victims also are believed to have been from Guatemala.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5809750?source=rss

There are more and more coming in from Guatemala. My neighbors are from there also. We are not only taking care of Mexico we are also taking care of Guatemala. Who else in the world are coming into the United States that we don't know about? This is an outrage that no one in our government wants to put a stop to. Smugglers are making a ton of money to do this.

Paige

Driver in Fatal Rollover Sentenced to 4 Years

Last Edited: Tuesday, 03 Jun 2008, 8:01 PM MDT
Created: Tuesday, 03 Jun 2008, 8:01 PM MDT


SALT LAKE CITY -- A man who pleaded guilty to a charge of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death was sentenced to four years in federal prison Tuesday.

Rigoberto Salas-Lopez told federal agents he was paid $1,000 to drive 14 people to St. Louis from Phoenix in 2007.

Eight of the 14 people in the Chevy Suburban died after it rolled several times on U.S. 191 in southern Utah.

Federal prosecutors had hoped Salas-Lopez would be sentenced to 72 months in jail because of the number of deaths involved.

www.myfoxutah.com