A Midway resident has been sentenced to up to five years in prison, and could be deported after that, for driving under the influence and causing a near-head-on collision that killed a Heber woman a year ago.
The sentence was handed down last Wednesday in Heber’s Fourth District Court to 38-year-old Jose Lozoya-Tellez who admitted in a Plea Agreement last year that he was driving under the influence of cocaine during the crash that killed 23-year-old Heather Petersen.
The Highway Patrol reported that on January 15th of last year, shortly after 5:00 pm, the defendant was driving northbound on State Road 189 near Deer Creek Reservoir.
The defendant, in a Chevy Trailblazer, crossed into the opposite lane toward Petersen, in a Toyota Camry. She tried swerving off the road, but the vehicles collided. Petersen died at the scene and the defendant was taken to an area hospital with critical injuries.
Lozoya-Tellez was initially charged with Automobile Homicide as a second-degree felony. In his plea agreement last November, the Wasatch County Attorney’s office agreed to reduce the charge to Auto Homicide Negligence DUI, a third-degree felony.
The court record says after his prison sentence, he will be turned over to ICE for deportation proceedings. He also has to pay restitution of over $7,000.