SAN BERNARDINO – (INT) – A judge who refused to approve a plea deal for a man who crashed a tour bus 3-years ago in Mentone killing eight people has accepted another plea agreement.

Superior Court Judge Harold Wilson accepted an agreement that Norberto Perez plead no contest to gross vehicular manslaughter. Perez was sentenced to six years in prison last Friday. The plea agreement and the conclusion of the case were not disclosed until Tuesday.

The agreement Judge Wilson rejected in August would have given Perez probation.

The tour bus was returning from Big Bear February 3, 2013 on Route 38 when the brakes failed sending the bus with 38 passengers into two other vehicles and then overturning. Some of the surviving passengers said they overheard Perez making phone calls to the company headquarters about a faulty brake valve.

A California Highway Patrol official said the bus had several brake system issues.

Owners of Tijuana-based Scapadas Magicas were later ordered by the federal government to close the company because of a litany of mechanical violations on its buses operating in the US.

Story Date: October 4, 2016