Driver in Fatal Parkway Crash Faces Deportation

A New York man faces deportation after pleading guilty Monday to driving a church van with a fraudulent license last year when he crashed into a NJ Transit bus, killing one of the passengers in Saddle Brook, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Oscar A. Martinez-Y-Martinez, 30, of Spring Valley, N.Y., pleaded guilty to being an unlicensed/suspended driver involved in a fatal motor vehicle collision, a third-degree crime.

Martinez-Y-Martinez was driving with an invalid New Mexico license when the church van he was operating on the Garden State Parkway crashed into a NJ Transit bus, killing passenger Vilma Castro-DeMox, on Oct. 1, 2013.

Martinez-Y-Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17 when he is expected to receive time-served in the Bergen County Jail as a condition of his probation, the prosecutor’s office said. However, Martinez-Y-Martinez is expected to then be turned over to federal authorities for removal proceedings immediately after the sentencing, the prosecutor’s office said.

The crash investigation revealed Martinez-Y-Martinez fraudulently obtained a New Mexico driver’s license in 2012, the prosecutor’s office said. New Mexico is one of a few states that issue driver’s licenses to illegal citizens as long as they live in New Mexico, the prosecutor’s office said.

Martinez-Y-Martinez never lived in New Mexico, but used a fraudulent address there to obtain the license, the prosecutor’s office said. A New Mexico license is also not valid if the driver moves out of state, the prosecutor’s office said.