Freddie Sanchez-Garcia, 19; Rueben Alberto Perez- Manriquez, 32; and Efrain Morales Carteno, 30, killed in rollover crash on Interstate 70 in Moab, Utah

Modified Date: 
Tue, 05/12/2015 - 3:19pm
Accident Date: 
Thursday, May 15, 2014

Human smuggling charges filed in fatal Utah crash

Quintanilla-Vasquez was charged in Moab’s 7th District Court with four counts of second-degree felony aggravated human smuggling, three counts of third-degree felony human smuggling, and one count of class C misdemeanor improper lane travel.
A driver is accused of smuggling undocumented immigrants through Utah, four of whom died last week when their van rolled off Interstate 70 last week in Grand County. Elvis J. Quintanilla-Vasquez, 36, was driving seven men to Chicago to work for a family member there when the van crashed May 16 about 34 miles west of the Colorado state line, investigators wrote in charges filed in Utah. Four of the men were flung from the van and died. The Utah Highway Patrol on Friday identified three of those victims as Freddie Sanchez-Garcia, 19; Rueben Alberto Perez- Manriquez, 32; and Efrain Morales Carteno, 30. Troopers withheld the fourth victim’s name pending family notification. Three other men were injured, along with Vasquez, and were near the van when troopers arrived. Investigators found no valid U.S. identification on the survivors, but the victims were carrying false documents. Their permanent resident cards lacked flags or presidential images on the backs, Social Security cards had spelling and grammatical errors, and Mexican out-of-country identifications displayed off-center photos and poorly-cut lamination, investigators wrote. One of the survivors told investigators that Quintanilla-Vasquez had a female passenger in the front seat when he picked them up in California; witnesses saw her run from the crash scene, and she hadn’t been found as of Friday, troopers said.
Type: Car Accident
Topics: 
Rollover
People Involved: 
Elvis J. Quintanilla-Vasquez
Freddie Sanchez-Garcia
Rueben Alberto Perez- Manriquez
Efrain Morales Carteno
Roadway: 
Interstate 70
City: 
Moab, UT

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