SUSPECT CHARGED IN FATAL MAPLEWOOD HIT-AND-RUN DROVE TO SLEEPY EYE

A suspect in a fatal hit-and-run Friday in Maplewood allegedly drove over 100 miles to Sleepy Eye to a job site after the crash.  Court documents say 46-year-old Jose Ronald Hernandez-Pineda is accused of hitting  31-year-old Abdul Bakr Jafar, who was pronounced dead at the scene.  A newspaper delivery driver captured photos of the van and its license plate.   The van was registered to a roofing company with a Maplewood address.  Police tracked Hernandez-Pineda’s phone to a home in Sleepy Eye where a roofing crew was working.  Authorities found the suspect van with heavy front-end damage at the job site.  Hernandez-Pineda told authorities he thought he hit a deer.  As of Monday, Hernandez-Pineda is in custody at the Ramsey County jail on $1-million bail and is due in court today (Tuesday).  He faces two counts of criminal vehicular homicide.