Driver in immigrant smuggling case indicted on 11 counts for fatal rollover near Mexico border

Thursday, August 24th 2006, 2:41 pm

By: News On 6

PHOENIX (AP) _ A man accused of driving an overloaded SUV that rolled while fleeing U.S. Border Patrol agents north of Yuma, killing 10 migrants, has been indicted by a federal grand jury.

Adan Pineda Doval of Guetamo, Mexico, is charged with 10 counts of causing the death of migrants while illegally transporting them, a crime that carries a potential life sentence.

He also is charged with one count of endangering the lives of other migrants among the 20 in the Chevrolet Suburban that rolled on Aug. 7. That crime carries a maximum 20 year prison term.

Officials with the Yuma County sheriff's office said the driver had swerved to avoid a spike strip set out by a Border Patrol agent.

Five passengers were pronounced dead at the scene and four more died that day at Yuma Regional Medical Center. A 10th victim later died at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix.

The Yuma County Medical Examiner also counts an 11th death, an unborn child of one of the victims. The indictment does not include that death among the charges.

Pineda remains in federal custody.