Repeat OVI offender gets prison for fatal crash
A Columbus woman with a history of driving while intoxicated was sentenced Wednesday to as many as 14 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed her passenger on the Northeast Side in 2018.
Heather L. Tapia, 49, of North Linden, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (OVI), with enhanced penalties because she had at least five prior drunken-driving convictions and no driver’s license.
The OVI arrest for the latest case was the ninth on her record, Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Keith Mcgrath said.
The crash on July 14, 2018, at about 3:20 a.m., caused the death of 39-yearold Audrey Gartin, who was the frontseat passenger in Tapia’s car.
Mcgrath and defense attorney Mark Collins jointly recommended the sentence imposed by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Sheryl Munson, which includes 10 years for aggravated vehicular homicide, two years for OVI and two years for a repeat-offender specification. Of the 14-year sentence, 12 years and 60 days are mandatory.
Mcgrath said Gartin’s family members, all of whom live out of state, supported the sentencing recommendation. Gartin had recently moved to Columbus from Arizona.
Tapia was credited with the 715 days she has spent in jail since her arrest in April 2019. She fled before her indictment in the case and was arrested in Florida.
Tapia was driving west on Morse Road and turning onto southbound Cleveland Avenue when her car was struck by a minivan heading east on Morse, Columbus police reported.
Gartin was taken to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Tapia, who suffered minor injuries, had a blood draw that revealed a bloodalcohol concentration of 0.138%. In Ohio, a driver with a level of 0.08% or above is presumed to be impaired.
At the time of the crash, Tapia had only been out of prison for a few months after serving a 14-month sentence for a 2017 drunken-driving conviction.
Because of previous convictions, Tapia was under a five-year suspension of her driver’s license, without even limited driving privileges, and was not legally allowed to drive at the time of the crash. Her decision to drive without a license elevated the aggravated vehicular homicide charge a first-degree felony, the most serious level. jfutty@dispatch.com @johnfutty