A Guatemalan woman who was convicted in 2008 on four counts of criminal vehicular homicide was indicted Friday in a Minneapolis federal court on three counts related to identity theft and illegal re-entry.
According to 2008 stories from The Worthington Daily Globe and MPR News, Olga Marina Franco del Cid spent eight years in prison for causing the deaths of four school children when she ran a stop sign in Cottonwood, Minnesota and crashed into a school bus. She was charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide and 17 counts of criminal vehicular injury.
Franco del Cid also faced charges for providing police officers with a false name, driving without a license, and running a stop sign. Two of the students who died in the crash were brothers.
She was deported in 2016 after her release from prison, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced last week that the agency received a tip about her return to the country.
According to a press release from ICE, Franco del Cid was found in the United States in violation of her previous removal, a felony under federal law. She also faces charges of identification fraud for using a fake green card and social security fraud for “falsely representing a social security number” on an employment eligibility form.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Erica MacDonald announced the charges Friday and said Franco del Cid was scheduled to make her first court appearance December 16 in a U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Provinzino is prosecuting the case, McDonald said.
Franco del Cid currently remains in ICE custody.
A Marshall, Minnesota resident published a letter to the editor Tuesday in the Marshall Independent, saying Franco del Cid’s arrest “revives a nightmare.”
“There should be no debate here. Franco del Cid has shown a total disregard for her conviction in Lyon County and U.S. laws by returning. By just deporting her, she has proven she will illegally return again —and again,” said the reader. “Apparently, illegal re-entry into the U.S. is a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Prosecutors should pursue the highest level of punishment possible in this case.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
[…] In a similar case, a Guatemalan woman who was convicted in 2008 on four counts of criminal vehicular homicide was indicted in December in a Minneapolis federal court on three counts related to identity theft and illegal re-entry. Olga Marina Franco del Cid spent eight years in prison for causing the deaths of four school children when she ran a stop sign in Cottonwood, Minnesota and crashed into a school bus, The Minnesota Sun reported. […]
[…] In a similar case, a Guatemalan woman who was convicted in 2008 on four counts of criminal vehicular homicide was indicted in December in a Minneapolis federal court on three counts related to identity theft and illegal re-entry. Olga Marina Franco del Cid spent eight years in prison for causing the deaths of four school children when she ran a stop sign in Cottonwood, Minnesota and crashed into a school bus, The Minnesota Sun reported. […]