WASHINGTON, D.C. — United States Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) is calling for an investigation into the semi driver who hit and killed a family of three on Interstate 71 earlier this month.
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On April 11, three people were killed, and three others were hurt in a crash on I-71 near the US 36 and State Route 37 interchange.
Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said an initial investigation found that Modou Ngom, 50, did not stop while approaching a backup in a construction zone.
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Investigators from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Ohio State Highway Patrol uncovered conflicting information related to Ngom’s identity in state and federal records.
Ngom appeared to have entered the United States in the 1990s and then used multiple names and dates of birth to obtain state and federal identification, according to authorities.
He is accused of fraudulently getting a new Ohio driver’s license in 2003 and later a commercial driver’s license in 2007 under a different identity.
He was naturalized as a U.S. Citizen in the mid-2010s under that alternate identity.
State records show he changed his name back to Modou Ngom in 2015.
Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson directed state investigators to immediately turn the findings over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.
On Wednesday, Moreno sent a letter to the secretaries of the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security calling for the investigation.
He also called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to initiate the immediate denaturalization of Ngom if investigators determine he fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship.
“These needless tragedies are avoidable with staunch enforcement of our immigration laws,” Moreno wrote.
Ngom currently faces three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and four counts of vehicular assault in connection with the crash. He’s booked in the Delaware County Jail.
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