Alleged Smuggler May Have Driven Pickup

An alleged smuggler in a pickup full of suspected illegal immigrants that crashed April 6 in Temecula--killing eight of the 26 occupants--may also have been the driver of the vehicle, federal authorities told a judge Tuesday in San Diego.

The revelation came in a hearing before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Leo S. Papas, at which Assistant U.S. Atty. Larry Spong asked that the suspected smuggler, 19-year-old Fernando Covarrubias-Varela, be held without bail at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego. The judge concurred.

Ana Cobian, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, said Covarrubias-Varela was identified by two other occupants of the vehicle as the driver of the pickup. The truck was being followed at a distance by U.S. Border Patrol agents near Temecula as its driver apparently tried to detour around an immigration checkpoint on Interstate 15, accelerated as it crested over a road, lost control and crashed.

All of the other 26 occupants of the vehicle were injured in the crash, including Covarrubias-Varela, who was hospitalized for three days for facial injuries.

Cobian said investigators with the California Highway Patrol reported to the U.S. attorney’s office that three passengers could identify the driver--and that two specifically identified Covarrubias-Varela as the driver.

CHP spokeswoman Julie Page said that despite the U.S. attorney’s office’s belief--based on CHP information--that the smuggler also was the driver, she could not elaborate on that part of the investigation.

“We’re making excellent progress in the identification of the driver,” she said, “but we won’t release his name until we have positive confirmation and the investigation is complete.”

Covarrubias-Varela is charged with one felony count of transporting illegal immigrants. If he is identified by the CHP as the driver as well, he could also face vehicular manslaughter charges.

Although the teenager pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges Thursday, he admitted to federal investigators that he was one of the smugglers involved in the incident, the U.S. attorney’s office has said. But he maintained that he was in the back of the vehicle and that a second smuggler was sitting in the cab of the pickup alongside the driver.