ICE: Suspect in death of Colts player & Uber driver had previous DUI conviction
UPDATE
Manuel Orrego-Savala now faces charges in federal court.
He is being charged by federal authorities with illegal re-entry by a previously deported alien.
“The defendant in this case allegedly re-entered the country illegally for the second time before he put the public safety of Indianapolis at risk and took the lives of two innocent men early Sunday morning,” said a statement Tuesday night from U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler in Indianapolis. “In April, Attorney General Sessions directed all federal prosecutors to prioritize charging aliens that illegally re-enter the country, especially if they are a risk to public safety or there is a criminal history present. Following the rule of law is the foundation of our American democracy, and my office is committed to fulfilling the Attorney General’s directive.”
Orrego-Savala will remain in custody while the case is investigated by the Indiana State Police and the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, the statement from Minkler said. The immigration charges will remain pending until the conclusion of all state matters.
According to Assistant United States Attorney William McCoskey who is prosecuting this case for the government, Orrego-Savala faces up to 10 years of imprisonment if convicted.
PREVIOUS
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The man suspected of killing a Colts player and an Uber driver in a drunk driving crash was previously convicted of driving under the influence in California.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, was arrested for the death of Indianapolis Colts player Edwin Jackson and Uber driver Jeff Monroe.
On Tuesday morning, I-Team 8’s Stephanie Zepelin received information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Orrego-Savala was previously convicted of driving under the influence in Redwood City, California in 2005. He had previously been deported twice.
ICE says he also has several other misdemeanor convictions and arrests in California and Indiana. 24-Hour News 8 reported on Monday that he pleaded guilty to driving while never receiving a license in Boone County in 2017.
Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer later announced that an investigation into Orrego-Savala’s identity would be launched with Marion County to determine if he used false information in connection to his arrests. Additional charges of perjury, forgery and/or false informing could be added if investigators determine Orrego-Savala did purposely deceive officials about his identity.
ICE provided this immigration history for Orrego-Savala:
- On or about July 1, 2004: He entered the country illegally without inspection
- Oct. 27, 2006: ICE deportation officers arrested him in San Francisco for being an alien present without permission or parole
- Nov. 28, 2006: He was transported to the Eloy (Arizona) Detention Facility
- Dec. 20, 2006: He was ordered to be removed to Guatemala by an immigration judge in Eloy, Arizona
- Jan. 17, 2007: He was removed to Guatemala
- March 26, 2009: He was arrested by deportation officers in San Francisco
- May 12, 2009: He was removed to Guatemala by ICE officers in Phoenix
Police say Orrego-Savala had a BAC of .239 after the crash. Indiana State Police say Monroe had pulled over on I-70 near Holt Road because Jackson had become ill. Police said both of them were outside of the vehicle. That’s when Orrego-Savala crashed his pickup truck into them, throwing one of them into the center lane of I-70, according to investigators. That person was struck by a responding ISP trooper.
Orrego-Savala presented investigators with a Mexican Consulate Identification Card and used the alias Alex Cabrera Gonsales. That’s the same name he used in his 2017 Boone County arrest. In that 2017 case, he received a jail sentence of two days and received credit for one.Court documents for Orrego-Savala’s 2017 arrest:
Gonsales was again driving without a license. He faces preliminary charges of causing death when operating a motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent of .08 or more, operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license and operating a vehicle with an ACE of .15 or more, according to online records.
He made an initial appears in a Marion County criminal court on Tuesday morning.
Also on Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted about the case.
24-Hour News 8 also spoke with people that knew Jeff Monroe. They recalled him as being caring and funny.
“It’s been a very hard day for all of the employees here and certainly hard for his family,” said JP Thomas, president and CEO of Allison Payment Systems.
Monroe also worked at Allison Payment Systems, working there for 20 years.
Thomas also said that Monroe was dedicated to his family and wife of 23 years.
Orrego-Savala has not yet been formally charged by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Indianapolis Colts told 24-Hour News 8 that team owner Jim Irsay is paying for the funerals of Uber driver Jeff Monroe and Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson.
