A truck driver charged in a deadly nine-car crash that happened on April 11 along I-71 in Delaware county was driving illegally, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
In a statement released Thursday, Andy Wilson, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said following the crash, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Ohio State Highway Patrol began investigating Modou Ngom’s background and uncovered conflicting information related to his identity in state and federal records.
"According to the investigation, it appears Ngom entered the United States in the 1990s and subsequently used multiple names and dates of birth to obtain state and federal identification. Evidence from the investigation indicates that, around 2003, using records issued from the federal government, Ngom fraudulently obtained a new Ohio driver’s license, and later a commercial driver’s license in 2007, under an alternate identity and was later naturalized as a U.S. citizen in the mid-2010s under that same alternate identity. State records show he changed his name back to Modou Ngom in 2015."Andy Wilson, Director, Ohio Department of Public Safety
Wilson said he directed state investigators to turn that part of the case over to Homeland Security Investigations Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A family of three died in the crash.
Ngom has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including aggravated vehicular homicide, and is being held at the Delaware County Jail.
