Summary

On October 24, 2014, Angel De La Torre, former owner of Angel Tours, a commercial motor carrier based in Houston, Texas, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Houston, Texas, to 36 months of probation, ordered to pay a $500 fine, and serve 500 hours of community service. De La Torre previously pleaded guilty to operating a commercial motor vehicle following an unsatisfactory rating.

Our investigation disclosed that De La Torre and Angel Tours operated a commercial motor vehicle after being placed out of service due to an unsatisfactory safety rating which resulted from a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) inspection that uncovered numerous record keeping and safety violations. As a result of this inspection, FMCSA ordered Angel Tours to cease all interstate transportation on June 23, 2008. In August 2008, a fatal crash of an Angel Tours passenger bus occurred near Sherman, Texas, weeks after FMCSA ordered the company to cease all interstate transportation.  

We conducted this investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from FMCSA.