Thread: MN: IA bus driver arrested in Minnesota school tragedy

Absolutely an awesome letter.

For the sake of these poor children and their families we must get even more active.

Thanks fedup, that's exactly motivation here too.

Oh, BTW, I STILL have not heard any word about the toxicology report from LE on the perp either - anybody else heard any results?

Oh, BTW, I STILL have not heard any word about the toxicology report from LE on the perp either - anybody else heard any results?

Nope and I've been following the local news sources closely. After they disclosed the other two drivers, it's highly suspicious they don't release hers. I don't know if it will have something to do with the court date because they are not releasing any names of the victims either so the families can be interviewed by the media (other then the ones who died). Only said it's a part of the investigative process.

I'll bet once they can open up, they really do!

Have come into this one after an absence from the real world due to family (all of us) having this flu thing (the one that the flu shot would do nothing for, or as people like myself feel, the worthless system of forced "vaccinations" that are mainly useless).

So, I am now beginning to understand the scope of what has happened, and that here again, another illegal alien, not only here illegally, driving illegally, as well as highly inexperienced, and with no understanding of our language, thus her apparent inability to read "STOP", or a speed sign. Now four chlidren are dead, and will never again get to grace their parents lives with their smiles, all because an illegal alien was not only ALLOWED through our porous borders, but enabled by lord knows how many agencies and employers.

I agree with you all. Oh so many people, all the way up to state gov needs to be sued beyond belief. This woman should have been shipped back the moment she was found here illegally for the first time, then there would still be these four children, alive.

It is late, I am still ailing somewhat, need to take something for my nose and try to absorb this. I hope and pray for justice for these families, I also pray they can make it through this troubled time.

Past on-the-road incidents surround van driver

By Rae Kruger

MARSHALL — The woman charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the Feb. 19 Lakeview School bus crash was apparently involved in a driving-without-a-license incident in which a man was cited in Kandiyohi County in January, the West Central Tribune reported Wednesday.

The Kandiyohi County incident would be at least the second driving- without-a-license incident connected to the woman since 2006.

In January, the woman, now identified by federal immigration authorities as Olga Marina Franco, was a passenger in a 1998 van, when the driver, Samuel Melendez, 28, was stopped by a Kandiyohi County Deputy, the Tribune said. The van is believed to be the same one she was driving in the Feb. 19 school bus crash near the intersection of Lyon County Road 24 and Minnesota Highway 23 near Cottonwood.

In January, Melendez was cited for driving without a license, and the passenger, who identified herself as Alianiss N. Morales, said she also did not have a license, the Tribune said. Morales is the alias Franco gave to authorities after the Lakeview crash.

The pair said they were returning to work from Cottonwood and they lived in Willmar, the Tribune said.

Melendez paid a $187 fine for driving without a license in Kandiyohi County Court on Feb. 1, the Tribune said.

The complaint filed in Lyon County District Court lists a Samuel Rivera Melendez as Franco’s boyfriend.

The Lyon County Court complaint said a Minnesota State Trooper used an identification card photograph to positively identify Franco as the Alianiss Nunez Morales, 23, of Montevideo, who was cited for driving without a license in Montevideo on May 25, 2006. Morales paid a fine on the charge, court records said.

Montevideo Police Chief Adam Christopher and Marshall Director of Public Safety Rob Yant said it’s not unusual for a driver cited for driving without a license to pay a fine, even if the person may be an illegal alien.

“In the past when we have had small numbers of illegals (arrested) we’ve contacted the then-INS and now (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). ICE wasn’t willing to send someone from Sioux Falls, S.D., or Minneapolis,â€

UPDATES!!!


1. The two remaining hospitalized children may be released this weekend
from the hospital.

2. The ABC affiliate KSTP out of Mpls/St. Paul states that Olga Marina Franco
aka Morales WILL BE FACING ADDITIONAL CHARGES and that information
may come as early as tomorrow.

The man was also using an alias and had an employment card with the name of his alias, court documents said.

The man pleaded guilty to charges of no Minnesota driver’s license, and giving a false name and date of birth to police, court documents said.

The court ordered the man to pay $332 in a fine and other fees within 10 months and he was released, documents said.

Is this not I.D. Theft? That is a federal law. 10 months to pay, I got my one and only ticket in 1972 in Florida and had to pay at court time or go to jail. The ticket was for speeding. Times have changed

Thanks for the update safari. I'm glad we have someone all over the story there in the general area (that always helps a lot in tracking these types of events)

My guess for the additional charges might include:

>> Identify theft / document fraud / illegal use of official doc.
>> Providing false information
>> DUI (? - still waiting for those toxicology results...)

+ Immigration-related charges (?)

BigLake13, isn't that amazing...Americans commit a crime, and they throw the book at them, and illegal aliens commit a string of crimes, get caught yet they let them off scott free with a little fine....

What a crock!!

I hope they nail this woman. At this point, I don't care if we have to foot that bill for her life, she should not see the free side of a penitentiary fence till she is going to her own funeral ages down the road. She took four innocent lives with her wanton callousness, all for her own financial benefit when she entered this country illegally and drove around not knowing our language and not knowing our laws and ways. She KNEW what she was doing was wrong and yet she continued to.

As for all the people who aided her, those who stopped her and let her drive away, the county and state people who allowed this to go on, ICE who never actively sought her out, and the governor of that state who allows illegals to be sheltered, all should be convicted, sued and never allowed to hold public office again.

We heard about this in Dallas and that she was illegal on the news. I was shocked that the liberal press actually mentioned this on the news. Last week, the same thing happened here in the metroplex. A drunken illegal hit a girl head on and killed her. She was a teenager and he had no business even being in the country. Very, very little coverage on the story though.