MCALLEN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) — Global Limo, Inc., and its owner have been charged with conspiracy and other crimes in relation to the deaths of 23 nursing home residents who were fleeing Hurricane Rita in a bus that caught fire and exploded on a freeway near Dallas, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The three count indictment, which was returned by a grand jury on Monday, was unsealed Wednesday following the arrest of the company's owner, James H. Maples, 65, at his McAllen home. He was scheduled to appear before a U.S. magistrate Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors allege Global Limo Inc. and Maples conspired to falsify driver time records and failed to inspect the company's bus fleet to make sure the buses were safe.
"Rules governing the safe carriage of passengers are not made to be broken," U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement. "They are made to be followed, and followed scrupulously, by transportation companies."
The bus caught fire on Sept. 23 along Interstate 45 just south of Dallas as it was evacuating residents of Brighton Gardens nursing home from Houston as Hurricane Rita churned in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company was shut down in October after federal regulators determined the company posed "an imminent hazard to the safety of the motoring public."
If convicted of falsifying documents to allow drivers to go long stretches without appropriate rest, Maples faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His company could pay up to $500,000 if convicted.
Maples faces another year in prison and fine up to $100,000 if convicted on either of the other two counts for failing to inspect and maintain his company's buses and failing to require drivers to complete vehicle inspection reports. The company faces a maximum $200,000 fine for each of the charges.
An investigation by The Dallas Morning News found that Global Limo had previously been warned by state authorities over inadequate recordkeeping and had been accused of endangering elderly passengers on a previous trip.
Additionally, the News reported that a system used by federal regulators for checking dangerous bus operators has been criticized for years for relying on inaccurate and outdated information.
The Dallas Morning News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bus firm charged over Rita evacuees crash
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Owner of evacuee bus that exploded pleads not guilty
MCALLEN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - The owner of a tour company whose bus exploded and killed 23 nursing home residents as they fled Hurricane Rita pleaded not guilty Monday to conspiracy and safety violations.
Global Limo Inc. and its president and director, James H. Maples, are accused in a three-count federal indictment of conspiring to falsify driver time records and failing to inspect buses to ensure their safety.
Maples, 65, didn't comment as he left the courtroom. His attorney, Charles Banker III, has said the government was blaming Maples for "something that was really completely out of his control." Maples was arrested Wednesday and released on a $75,000 bond.
The bus erupted into flames Sept. 23 on a freeway near Dallas while carrying evacuees from a Houston nursing home as Rita gathered strength in the Gulf of Mexico. The driver and some passengers escaped, but others were caught inside as patients' oxygen tanks exploded.
The accident accounted for almost one-fourth of the approximately 100 deaths linked to Hurricane Rita.
Federal regulators shut down Global Limo's bus operations after the fire, saying the conditions of its vehicles and drivers "are likely to result in serious injury or death." A grand jury declined to indict the driver.
Prosecutors said the violations in the indictment are not necessarily what caused the accident, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
"We can, when laws have been violated, hold people accountable to the laws that have been violated," federal prosecutor Don DeGabrielle said when the indictment was announced last week.
The conspiracy charge, the most serious, carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If the company is convicted on that charge, it could be fined $500,000.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos scheduled jury selection for early April.
MCALLEN, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - The owner of a tour company whose bus exploded and killed 23 nursing home residents as they fled Hurricane Rita pleaded not guilty Monday to conspiracy and safety violations.
Global Limo Inc. and its president and director, James H. Maples, are accused in a three-count federal indictment of conspiring to falsify driver time records and failing to inspect buses to ensure their safety.
Maples, 65, didn't comment as he left the courtroom. His attorney, Charles Banker III, has said the government was blaming Maples for "something that was really completely out of his control." Maples was arrested Wednesday and released on a $75,000 bond.
The bus erupted into flames Sept. 23 on a freeway near Dallas while carrying evacuees from a Houston nursing home as Rita gathered strength in the Gulf of Mexico. The driver and some passengers escaped, but others were caught inside as patients' oxygen tanks exploded.
The accident accounted for almost one-fourth of the approximately 100 deaths linked to Hurricane Rita.
Federal regulators shut down Global Limo's bus operations after the fire, saying the conditions of its vehicles and drivers "are likely to result in serious injury or death." A grand jury declined to indict the driver.
Prosecutors said the violations in the indictment are not necessarily what caused the accident, which remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
"We can, when laws have been violated, hold people accountable to the laws that have been violated," federal prosecutor Don DeGabrielle said when the indictment was announced last week.
The conspiracy charge, the most serious, carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If the company is convicted on that charge, it could be fined $500,000.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos scheduled jury selection for early April.
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