The driver of the gasoline tanker truck that overturned and ignited a fire that brought down part of the MacArthur Maze has a substantial criminal record, including a conviction for possession of heroin in 1996 that earned him a 32-month state prison sentence, law enforcement officials said Monday.

But James Mosqueda, 51, of Woodland, was able to obtain a commercial-trucking driver’s license last June with a special endorsement allowing him to transport hazardous materials. Nothing in state law would have prevented Mosqueda — who had two felony convictions in the 1990s but a clean driving record in recent years — from receiving the license, state Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman Mike Miller said.

Mosqueda also passed a background check, administered by the federal Transportation Security Administration, designed to ensure that those who transport hazardous materials do not pose a threat, Miller said. The crimes of which he had been convicted were not serious or recent enough to disqualify him from driving a truck filled with gasoline, federal officials said.

Mosqueda remains at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, where he is being treated for second-degree burns to his face, neck and hands that he suffered when the truck he was driving crashed and burned early Sunday on the connector between westbound Interstate 80 and southbound Interstate 880 in Oakland. The fire brought down the overhead ramp connecting eastbound Interstate 80 with eastbound Interstate 580.

Family members released a statement saying Mosqueda was in stable condition. “We are grateful that no one else was hurt and thank God that James is on the road to recovery,” the statement said.