The illegal immigrant suspected in the drunk driving death of an Indianapolis Colts player and Uber driver was convicted last year under an alias, Indiana prosecutors said Tuesday.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, a twice-deported Guatemalan national, was charged Wednesday with two counts of failure to remain at the scene of an accident and two counts tied to drunken driving death. Police say he slammed his Ford F-150 pickup into Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and Uber driver Jeffrey Monroe as they were standing on the emergency shoulder of Interstate 70 in Indianapolis early Sunday morning.
Prosecutors say it was not the first time Orrego-Savala has committed a vehicular crime in Indiana. He was convicted of driving without a license last year in Boone County, Ind. under an alias, Boone Country Prosecutor Todd Meyer said in a news release.
Meyer said his office prosecuted Orrego-Savala in August 2017 under the false identity of Alex Cabrera Gonsales, the same alias he gave to the Indiana State Police after being arrested for the crash Sunday.
“According to court documents and jail information, Alex Cabrera Gonsales is the same person as Manuel Orrego-Savala, the man currently in custody in Marion County for allegedly causing Sunday’s crash,” Meyer said, according to WBIC Indianapolis.
Also WATCH:
It remains unclear exactly when Orrego-Savala returned to the U.S. after his last deportation. But he was able to avoid detection by law enforcement by living under an assumed name once he settled in Indiana.
Police in Whitestown, Ind. pulled over Orrego-Savala after he failed to stop at a stop sign, reports the Indianapolis Star. During the traffic stop, he showed officers a Mexican ID card but did not have a driver’s license.
Local authorities did not notify immigration authorities about the arrest because they were not legally required to at the time, the Boone County Sheriffs Office said Tuesday. Since Orrego-Savala’s fingerprints did not trigger an alert when submitted to the Indiana State Police and the FBI, he was released after serving two days in jail, police said.
Meyer says he is working with Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry about opening an investigation into possible identity crimes Orrego-Savla may have committed while living in Indiana.
“Depending on the results of that investigation, either Prosecutor Curry’s office or mine, or both I guess, in the event he used false information in both Boone and Marion Counties, will review those findings for possible perjury, forgery, false informing and identity deception charges, among other potential charges,” Meyer said Tuesday, according to WBIC.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed Monday that Orrego-Savala was first deported in 2007 and again in 2009, both times after being detained in the San Francisco area. Aside from his two prior deportations, Orrego-Savala was convicted in 2005 for driving under the influence in Redwood City, Calif., according to ICE.
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged Orrego-Savala with illegal re-entry after deportation, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Send tips to will@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
The Daily Caller News Foundation is working hard to balance out the biased American media. For as little as $3, you can help us. Make a one-time donation to support the quality, independent journalism of TheDCNF. We’re not dependent on commercial or political support and we do not accept any government funding.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.