U.S. agent: Franco not alone in van (May 15, 2008)

MARSHALL, MINN. - The woman accused of being the van driver in the fatal Cottonwood school bus crash was not alone in her vehicle, a federal agent acknowledged in a court hearing Thursday.

Under questioning by the woman's attorney, Immigration Special Agent Jeremy Christenson acknowledged learning through interviews that the woman's boyfriend was also in the van. "I did learn that, yes," Christenson testified when questioned in Lyon County District Court.

The statement was significant for the defense, which contends that Olga Franco, 24, was a passenger in the van and that her boyfriend was behind the wheel.

Franco, a Guatemalan, has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide, criminal vehicular injury and other charges related to the Feb. 19 crash, which killed four children. Her boyfriend, identified as Francisco Sangabriel-Mendoza, has not been seen since.

Franco said in an interview with the Star Tribune last month that her boyfriend fled after the crash because he did not want to be deported to Mexico, but that he threatened her first, saying that if she told anyone about him her life would be at risk.

Franco's defense attorney, Manuel Guerrero, told Judge David Peterson that a witness who picked up Franco's boyfriend at the scene of the crash has come forward, along with two other witnesses who saw a man running from the scene.

Guerrero is seeking to depose those witnesses in the event they aren't available at the time of the trial.

Guerrero acknowledged after the hearing that "we still have the issue as to who was driving."

Boyfriend recognized

Guerrero said a man came forward to authorities about three weeks ago, saying he came upon the crash scene on his way to work at a Cottonwood cabinet factory, recognized the boyfriend as a co-worker and gave him a ride.

The man came forward after talking with his pastor, Guerrero said, adding that he has spoken with the man and has read a statement the man gave to authorities.

The man said the boyfriend appeared to have an injured back, Guerrero said.

Guerrero said it's his understanding that the boyfriend, who was living with Franco in Minneota, went back to that town after the crash, but not to his home. He then went to Willmar, where a sister lives, and on to Chicago, where friends live.

"From Chicago, no one knows where he is," Guerrero said.

'I'm not prepared to talk'

Judge Peterson ruled Thursday that a second statement Franco gave to authorities a couple of days after the crash -- in which she repeated that her boyfriend was behind the wheel -- can be suppressed at trial.

According to testimony and transcripts, Franco, who was using an alias at the time, was given a Miranda warning and said shortly afterward, "I'm not prepared to talk to you yet."

Peterson ruled that Franco's statement was a "clear, unequivocal invocation of her right to counsel."

Guerrero has asked Peterson to reconsider an earlier ruling allowing Franco's first statement to police, in which an interpreter told authorities that Franco was driving to work, stopped at a stop sign and "the bus came onto her."