JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — The trucker who posted bail Saturday night for charges related to a deadly crash on Interstate 70 is not currently being monitored with a GPS bracelet. The FOX31 Problem Solvers have learned bond conditions for Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos did not include an ankle monitor or any way to track his movements once he posted bail.
Just hours after FOX31 raised questions with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors filed a motion asking a judge to order Aguilera-Mederos to wear a GPS device.
RELATED: Read the motion requesting GPS monitoring
The judge has agreed to hold a hearing on the motion but has not yet set a date and time to rule on the matter.
The 23-year-old Cuban national who is living legally in the United States is accused of causing a fiery crash that killed four people on I-70 in Lakewood last month.
Aguilera-Mederos is charged with four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault and 24 counts of attempted first-degree assault.
Aguilera-Mederos‘ bond was set at $400,000. But because it was surety bond posted through a bail bonds company, Aguilera-Mederos only had to come with about 10 percent of the $400,000, or about $40,000.
At the original April 27 bond hearing for Aguilera-Mederos, Jefferson County Assistant District Attorney Kate Knowles asked for a $500,000 cash-only bond, meaning Aguilera-Mederos would’ve needed to pay the entire amount — not just 10 percent — to secure his release.
At the hearing, Knowles said, “The fact that [Aguilera-Mederos] has hired private counsel demonstrates he has means and therefore does have the means and the ability and the opportunity to flee such serious charges.”
In the motion filed Monday afternoon and first obtained by the Problem Solvers, prosecutors state, “The People’s investigation has revealed that the Defendant attempted to flee the scene of the collision, this was previously unknown at the time of the original bond setting.”
As a result, prosecutors want to modify bond conditions to include GPS monitoring as a condition of the defendant’s bond because the motion states Aguilera-Mederos faces “a lengthy mandatory Department of Corrections sentence” and has no ties to Colorado.
As part of his bond conditions, Aguilera-Mederos was supposed to surrender his passport, but at his original bond hearing, his defense attorney Rob Corry told the judge he was under the impression the passport was inside the truck that got incinerated during the chain-reaction explosion.
The judge did insist Aguilera-Mederos not leave the state of Colorado but it’s not clear where he’s staying since his family ties are to Texas and Florida.
The crash occurred near the Denver West exit of eastbound I-70 on April 25. It involved 24 passenger vehicles and four semi-trailers.
According to an arrest affidavit, Aguilera-Mederos told investigators that the brakes on his semi failed and that he was going more than 80 mph at the time of the crash.
Investigators reviewed a number of videos that appeared to show Aguilera-Mederos out of control, including one filmed by Pedro Olvera. That video appeared to show Aguilera-Mederos passing a runaway truck ramp and signs warning truckers about steep grades as the interstate winds into the Denver area.
Another video captured by a YouTuber shows a semi speeding down the shoulder of the interstate moments before the crash occurred.