A Gary woman avoided prison Wednesday for a fatal hit-and-run on Ridge Road in December 2023.
Robelis Soto-Echevarria, 20, pleaded guilty in November to leaving the scene of an accident causing catastrophic injury, a Level 4 felony.
Under the deal, she faced up to eight years in prison. Judge Samuel Cappas sentenced her to four years in Lake County Community Corrections program and two more years on probation.
Hobart Police Detective Michael Gallagher testified that Richard Hunt, 59, of Lake Station, was walking back from the grocery store.
Deputy Prosecutor Brad Carter said that “accidents happen” and she had never been in trouble with the law. However, she left the scene and later fled to New Jersey and her native Puerto Rico to avoid arrest.
Cops found the damaged minivan hidden behind a bunch of stuff in the garage.
It was a “sad fact” that authorities couldn’t find Hunt’s family or friends, he said.
Carter asked for four years in prison and two on probation.
Defense lawyer Adrian Guzman said Soto was apologetic for what happened. She was born in Puerto Rico and her parents lived in New Jersey for years before they relocated to Northwest Indiana for her dad’s work.
At the time, Soto was working as a manager at KFC.
Her life would “never be the same,” he said.
Soto said she couldn’t turn back time.
“I hate myself for that,” she tearfully told Cappas, adding she was “extremely ashamed” to be in court as an inmate.
If I would have known I hit Mr. Hunt, I would have done everything in my power to help him, she said.
“I know you wouldn’t be standing here if you would have stopped,” Cappas told her.
A Hobart Police officer radioed for paramedics at 7:12 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2023, after he spotted an older man “frosted over” and lying on his stomach on the side of Ridge Road.
When the officer examined him up close, Hunt was not breathing and his face was bloody. Paramedics who checked him out said there was nothing they could do.
Investigators took bits of wreckage to a Honda dealership and learned it came from an Odyssey minivan between the years 2005-2010. Police got a tip that someone bought replacement parts at an auto yard in Lake Station.
They traced the vehicle to Soto-Echevarria’s family.
Soto-Echevarria worked till 4 p.m. on Dec. 26, then went with co-workers to a Chinese restaurant on East Ridge Road in Hobart before making plans to later go to a movie in Portage. She went home to change around 5 p.m. before the film.
License plate readers picked up one minivan near relatives in Camden, New Jersey between Dec. 29 and Jan. 11.
Police got permission to see the damaged van in the family garage, which had a cracked windshield and passenger side damage.
mcolias@post-trib.com