Driver receives three-year prison sentence
The driver accused of causing a crash on U.S. 287 north of Longmont while driving a stolen truck was sentenced to three years in prison.
Mitchell Alberto Verdugo-felix, 35, pleaded guilty in December to vehicular assault, vehicular eluding and two counts of aggravated motor vehicle theft.
On Friday. Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler sentenced Verdugo-felix to three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on the assault and eluding counts and one year on the theft count.
He will serve all three sentences concurrently, for a total of three years in prison.
Because of prior felony convictions, Verdugo-felix was not eligible for probation. And while his defense attorney asked for a community corrections sentence, Butler said a prison sentence was warranted given Verdugo-felix’s criminal history and lack of compliance with previous probation sentences.
“Mr. Verdugo has had many more than a second chance,” Butler said. “He has had a fourth, fifth, sixth, an eighth and 10th chances. And regrettably, what he has shown is that he is not capable of being supervised in the community safely.”
Attorneys noted Verdugo-felix still has open cases in Weld County in addition to a lengthy criminal history.
“His criminal history started in 2004 and has been consistently ongoing since that time,” Butler said.
Verdugo-felix addressed the court prior to the sentence being issued.
“I would like to apologize to my victims … and their families and the community who I affected by my behavior,” he said. “My actions have caused you a tremendous amount of damage, stress, trauma and financial hardship.
“For this, I am sitting here today accepting the consequences for what I did. I am remorseful for what I did and I pray with time that your damage will be healed.”
According to an affidavit, Longmont police were called to 965 S. Hover St. on July 19 after a man said his Dodge pickup truck was stolen while he was inside a business.
An officer in an unmarked vehicle spotted the stolen truck and began following it, while another officer moved in to try to intercept the truck at the intersection of Vermillion Road and U.S. 287.
But the driver of the stolen truck, later identified as Verdugofelix, spotted the officer’s vehicle and ran a stop sign trying to cross U.S. 287 when he was hit by a Ford pickup truck heading south.
Police said Verdugo-felix got out of the stolen truck and tried
to get into another vehicle before officers took him into custody.
Colorado State Patrol officials said multiple people inside the Ford were taken to the hospital with injuries ranging from serious to minor.
Several of the victims spoke at the hearing remotely
through an interpreter, talking about the lasting impacts the crash had on their lives.
Verdugo-felix said he would put his efforts into becoming a productive member of the community.
“To my community, I apologize for my lack of respect by my actions,” he said. “I will take my consequences as a learning experience.”
Butler noted that because
Verdugo-felix will get credit for 235 days of time already served, he will quickly become parole eligible and will very likely be back out in the community before the three-year sentence was
fully served.
“I hope you are taking all the things you have learned and all the things you have said seriously because you will be back out in the community fairly shortly,” Butler said.