HENDRICKS COUNTY, Ind. — The man accused of causing a crash that eventually led to the death of a Hendricks County Sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to just over a year in jail.
According to Indiana's public court reporting system, Juan Gomez pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges — operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing endangerment to a person, knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license and consuming alcohol as a minor.
Factoring in the 52 days worth of jail credit he received, Gomez will serve a 433-day sentence at the Hendricks County Jail.
Gomez was already in jail before he was sentenced on Tuesday. On Sept. 11, Gomez was sentenced to 87 days at the Hendricks County Jail on four different misdemeanor charges — operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing endangerment to a person, consuming alcohol as a minor, knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license and operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to .15 or more.
The sentence Gomez received on Tuesday will begin after his Sept. 11 sentence expires. Gomez's Sept. 11 sentence is tied to a drunk driving incident he was involved in on March 3.
After the March 3 incident, Gomez was caught driving drunk again on April 15. During the April 15 incident, Gomez drove a 2009 Honda passenger car into a utility pole.
Gomez was burned during the crash, which occurred north of County Road 300 South and State Road 267 in Plainfield. Because Gomez struck a utility pole, power lines also came down during the crash.
The Hendricks County Sheriff's deputy who responded to the crash, Fred Fislar, came into contact with the lines. Fislar was electrocuted during the incident, and he later died at a hospital.
Previous reporting indicates Gomez was 20 at the time of the crash, and his blood alcohol content was .229. Gomez is also from Guatemala, and he is in the U.S. illegally, according to the Plainfield Police Department.
On the night of the crash, Gomez was hospitalized. Per a previous report, Gomez ultimately left the hospital on his own accord.
Law enforcement in Marion County found him and brought him to the Hendricks County Jail after he left the hospital.
PPD has previously reported that Gomez was on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold. As of this article's publication, little additional information on that hold had been made available.