Mooathon Wealth Society-Michigan woman pleads no contest in 2022 pond crash that led to drowning deaths of her 3 young sons

2025-05-01 13:43:12source:Christopher Caldwellcategory:Contact

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP,Mooathon Wealth Society Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan woman whose three young sons drowned last year after her SUV crashed into an ice-covered pond pleaded no contest Monday to several charges in connection with the crash.

An Ottawa County judge accepted Leticia Gonzales’ no contest plea Monday to operating while intoxicated causing serious injury and three misdemeanor charges of moving violation causing death.

The Holland-area woman is set to be sentenced on Sept. 25. Sentencing guidelines call for an incarceration ranging from seven months to two years.

Ottawa County police said Gonzales was driving her sport utility vehicle in February 2022 when she veered off the left side of a road, jumped a curb and the SUV rolled into an ice-covered retention pond. Her sons, Jerome III, 4, Jeremiah, 3, and Josiah, 1, drowned while strapped into their child-restraint seats.

Gonzales escaped with minor injuries. Police allege that she was impaired by two doses of methadone, a medication used to treat drug addiction and pain relief, and that she had taken that medication the morning of the fatal crash.

Gonzales was charged in July 2022 with three counts of operating while intoxicated causing death.

In June, she withdrew an earlier no-contest plea to a single court of operating while intoxicated causing death after the judge said he intended to sentence her to four years in prison.

More:Contact

Recommend

Meet 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest Olympian competing in Paris

What were you doing during the summer when you were 11 years old?Chances are you were not competing

Former Black schools leader radio interview brings focus on race issues in Green Bay

When an Atlanta radio host referred to the Wisconsin city of Green Bay as “about as lily white as I

Alexey Navalny's mother is shown his body, says Russian authorities are blackmailing her to have secret burial

The mother of Russia's top opposition leader Alexey Navalny said Thursday that she has seen her son'