Truckers Charged with Evidence Tampering in Death of Two Texas Students
Truck company owner and driver allegedly tampered with dash cam footage.
Almost three years after his 18-wheeler was involved in the deaths of two Stephen F. Austin (SFA) University students, a Hughes Trucking Company truck driver and the company owner himself have both been arrested for allegedly tampering with evidence.
In January 2023, Hughes Trucking Company driver Antonio Sandoval Jr. was turning left onto a Corrigan, Texas, highway when the back of his trailer remained hanging in the traffic lane. SFA students Graylan Spring and Micah McAfoose crashed a Nissan Versa (driven by McAfoose) into the side of Sandoval’s 18-wheeler trailer. Police confirmed that McAfoose was driving at the speed limit.
When police arrived, the driver of the Versa, Micah McAfoose, was pronounced dead at the scene, and the passenger, Graylan Spring, was airlifted to a Conroe hospital. A hydraulic tool was needed to remove McAfoose’s body from the vehicle.
Sandoval, the truck driver, told police he didn’t see any vehicles approaching as he was crossing the highway to make his left turn. Police noted that Sandoval’s truck was hanging out in traffic as he hadn’t pulled entirely into the turning lane.
As police arrived on the scene of the accident, Sandoval’s boss and Hughes Trucking Company owner, Marlin “Ken” Hughes, also showed up.
Police bodycam footage shows a conversation between officers at the scene of the accident where one officer says that the incident is a “hot potato” for them because it involves Hughes Trucking company. Another officer says Hughes “owns a majority of the city.”
Graylan Spring, the passenger in the Versa, would later pass away from his injuries.
A criminal case would be opened in Polk County, where the truck driver, Antonio Sandoval, would eventually be no-billed for the accident.
However, the Spring family’s attorney would allege that the Polk County District Attorney’s paralegal had a personal relationship with Ken Hughes, the owner of Hughes Trucking Company. This relationship was hinted at as a possible point of influence in the ultimate decision to no-bill the driver for the incident that killed the two SFA students.
The Polk County DA, Shelly Bush-Sitton, would admit that her paralegal and Ken Hughes knew each other personally but that she didn’t believe this relationship affected the result of the criminal case.
The Polk County DA also admitted that her paralegal typed up a statement for Ken Hughes, sent it to him for review, and that he later signed the statement that the paralegal had drafted for him.
A lawsuit would be filed by the families of the students, which would eventually lead to more depositions and investigations.
Police bodycam footage shows that while they were talking to Sandoval at the scene of the accident, a dash camera could be seen attached to the window of the truck. However, police never noticed the dash camera, and Sandoval never informed police that he had a dash camera on and recording during the time of the crash.
After the crash, police would release Sandoval’s truck back to him to store at the Ken Hughes Trucking property. According to a police affidavit, as Sandoval drove his truck back to the company lot, he spoke with the owner, Ken Hughes, where Sandoval confirmed to Hughes that he had a dash camera. When Sandoval arrived, Hughes instructed Sandoval to remove the dash camera and bring it to him. Hughes would then place the truck’s dash camera in his office desk. Hughes also never informed police about the existence of the truck’s dash camera.
In an affidavit, a week after he took the camera from Sandoval, Hughes admitted to powering on the camera but says he was unable to find any video because he didn’t know how to operate it. Hughes says that another week later he gave the camera back to Sandoval.
Attorneys for the Spring family would inquire about the existence of a dash camera. However, Sandoval’s attorney, Marcy Rothman, told the Spring attorneys that no dash cam existed.
The Spring family’s attorneys would later produce camera footage evidence from a DPS trooper’s body cam that affirmed there was indeed a dash cam installed on the truck at the time of the incident. Sandoval’s lawyer, Marcy Rothman, would then send Lance Sloves, a forensic technician, to drive from Dallas to Diboll, a six-hour round-trip by car, to secure the dash cam and make a copy of the disk. Lance Sloves told DPS that he was unable to make a copy of the dash cam disk because there was no data on it. Current Revolt reached out to Sloves via phone for more information on the incident, but we were hung up on.
Rothman told Texas DPS Rangers that she had several conversations with both Hughes and Sandoval following the accident and that the information she provided about the lack of a dash cam was based on her conversations with Hughes and Sandoval.
In a deposition, under oath, Sandoval stated that he never told police about the existence of a dash camera because he did not trust law enforcement.
Texas DPS had their laboratory analyze the SD card and discovered that the disk was physically damaged; they could not determine what occurred with the SD card and camera system. The DPS laboratory stated that, due to physical damage to the SD card, they were only able to view a small portion of the file structure.
Hughes Trucking Company owner Ken Hughes told DPS he had no intention of tampering with the dash camera and denied erasing any data, claiming he “didn’t even know how to wipe video.”
Hughes would go on to tell DPS that he did not believe the dash camera was relevant to the crash investigation involving his employee that killed the two college students.
DPS would attempt to talk to the truck driver, Antonio Sandoval Jr., in person, but Sandoval refused to talk to DPS, instead referring them to his attorney, Jerrad Bloome.
DPS would contact Bloome asking to talk to Sandoval, but Bloome denied DPS the opportunity to speak with him.
Finally, DPS would issue arrest warrants for both Marlin “Ken” Hughes and Antonio Sandoval Jr.
Both Sandoval and Hughes were booked into Polk County Jail last week and posted $10,000 bonds.
Current Revolt reached out to Ken Hughes at his company. An employee informed us that she was aware that Hughes had been arrested but refused to provide any contact information for Hughes.
Current Revolt left messages for Antonio Sandoval but no response was received at the time of publishing.
Krista Spring told KTRE that the fight is not over yet to get justice for her son and is hoping for a fair and unbiased trial.
Although Graylan Spring passed away in 2023, he lives on as, at the time of his passing, he qualified as an organ donor where he went on to save other’s lives. Graylan successfully donated his heart, two kidneys, his liver, a cornea, and body tissue.
Krista Spring tells Current Revolt that she often meets with the individuals who Graylan saved with his donation.
You can learn more about Graylan Spring and his story at GraylanSpring.com
