A driver arrested for investigation of human smuggling after his crowded van crashed Tuesday in Idaho Springs, killing four people, was deported at least twice before the tragedy, including eight weeks ago from Denver, officials say.
Jose Franco-Rodriguez, a 23-year-old citizen of Mexico, is being held in Clear Creek County Jail for investigation of 46 violations of state law, including 14 counts of human smuggling.
He was deported Oct. 6 from Denver, and was previously deported from South Carolina, said Carl Rusnok, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas.
In addition to the possible state charges, Franco-Rodriguez also is under investigation for possible violations of federal laws. ICE agents are collecting evidence against the smuggling operation authorities say was exposed by his arrest.
“There is a rigorous federal investigation going on right now into why these people were there,” U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said Friday.
On Friday, Idaho Springs Police Chief David Wohlers released the names of the four who died in the crash on Interstate 70. They are Yanin Ocampo, 22, who was pregnant; Giovanni Lorenzo, 16; Jose Balderas, 17; and David Morales, 26. All were from Mexico.
Five survivors were being held Friday at an immigration detention facility in Aurora, Rusnok said. The others were hospitalized, including a man with a broken back and pelvis.
Agents are interviewing them, trying to learn more about increasingly sophisticated people-smuggling operations that supply low-wage workers to employers nationwide, bringing them across the border and moving them by van.
“These deaths raise the bar significantly,” Rusnok said.
Smugglers increasingly take measures to keep mid-level operatives such as van drivers ignorant about broader operations, Eid said. For example, drivers “may leave not knowing what their destination is,” or they may not receive full payment until they complete the next leg of their cross-country routes.
Franco-Rodriguez was given $400 in Phoenix to drive 14 Mexicans to the East Coast, Rusnok said. He was to pick up more money in the Kansas City, Mo., area before heading to North Carolina and Florida, he said.
The Colorado legislature this year funded a special Colorado State Patrol immigration investigative unit, but it won’t be in operation until July, State Patrol Sgt. Jeff Goodwin said.
Officials said they plan to have hired the first 12 of 24 unit members by the end of the month and will begin training them with ICE in January.
Colorado law officers stopped two more vanloads of suspected illegal immigrants Thursday and Friday along I-70.
Three men were arrested Thursday on suspicion of human smuggling and 12 others were turned over to the Mexican consulate after their van broke down near Clear Creek County High School, Clear Creek County Sheriff Don Krueger said.
And on Friday, State Patrol officers stopped a van with 16 people near the Eisenhower Tunnel, and two men were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling. The 14 others were turned over to ICE.
“It’s going to keep growing,” Krueger said. “The traffic through here is unbelievable.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
