A local news outlet confirmed Tuesday that the man arrested for his involvement in a Reno, Nevada car crash that killed Democrat U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) senior adviser was an illegal alien.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed to The Reno Gazette Journal that the man arrested, 18 year-old Elmer Rueda-Linares, entered the U.S. illegally in 2021 and was “released on his own recognizance.”
In the early morning hours of April 6 of this year, Sen. Masto’s senior adviser, Kurt Englehart, was killed in a car accident with Rueda-Linares, who has been charged with leaving the scene.
Rueda-Linares was initially charged with felony hit-and-run, but the charge has been changed to failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
Federal officers have placed an immigration detainer on Rueda-Linares, who is being held on $100,000 bail at the Washoe County Jail and will appear before Justice of the Peace Scott Pearson on Thursday.
“Impairment does appear to be a factor in this crash,” according to The Reno Gazette Journal’s April 8 story, two days after the fatal accident, in which it reports Rueda-Linares’ arrest and details of the deadly crash:
“Police, fire and a paramedic crew responded to a report of a two-vehicle crash at 4:27 a.m. Saturday at Kietzke and Peckham lanes, behind the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
“‘The occupants who fled the scene were later located by police, and the driver arrested,’ according to a news release. ‘Impairment does appear to be a factor in this crash.’”