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ICE arrests Guatemalan woman convicted in Lakeview bus crash

=MINNEAPOLIS — A Guatemalan woman who was convicted of four counts of criminal vehicular homicide after a deadly crash with a school bus, was arrested Tuesday for illegally re-entering the U.S., U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported.

Olga Franco del Cid, 35, was arrested at her residence in Inver Grove Heights after ICE officers received a tip that she had illegally re-entered the U.S., ICE said in a Wednesday news release. Franco del Cid was deported in 2016 after serving eight years in prison in Shakopee. Coming back to the U.S. illegally is a felony offense punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, ICE said.

Franco del Cid was convicted in 2008 of nearly two dozen charges, including four counts of criminal vehicular homicide, 17 counts of criminal vehicular injury, failure to stop at a stop sign, not having a valid driver’s license and providing a false name and date of birth to police. She was convicted for her role in a 2008 crash where a minivan struck a school bus carrying students from Lakeview Schools. Four children, Hunter and Jesse Javens, Emilee Olson and Reed Stevens, were killed in the crash, and more were injured.

Franco del Cid was found pinned in the front seat of the minivan, and originally told authorities her name was Alianiss Nunez Morales. A few days after the crash, ICE officials said that was a stolen identity, and Franco del Cid had come to the U.S. illegally from Guatemala.

During her trial, Franco del Cid and her attorneys said it was her boyfriend who was really driving the minivan that hit the school bus. However, a jury convicted Franco del Cid of all charges against her. An appeal was denied in 2010.

After her arrest Tuesday, ICE said Franco del Cid remains in ICE custody pending possible further federal court action, or deportation.

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