WELD COUNTY, Colo. — A man was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in connection with a September 2022 crash that killed Weld County sheriff's deputy Alexis Hein-Nutz.
Noberto Garcia-Gonzales, 37, was sentenced to 24 years in prison, the maximum allowed under state law. He pleaded guilty in November to leaving the scene of an accident involving death. Other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Investigators said Hein-Nutz, 24, was riding her motorcycle to the Weld County jail, where she worked, when the crash happened near the intersection of AA Street and Weld County Road 37 on Sept. 18, 2022. Hein-Nutz died at the scene.
Investigators said Garcia-Gonzales failed to yield to the right of way to Hein-Nutz after stopping at a stop sign.
A witness reported seeing Garcia-Gonzales run from the scene and into a nearby cornfield after the crash. He was arrested the next day in the Fort Collins area.
Garcia-Gonzales had previously been convicted of DUI after two separate crashes, including one hit-and-run, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. He didn't have authorization to be in the country at the time of the crash, according to the Weld County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Hein-Nutz joined the Sheriff's Office in 2018 and after being a member of the Loveland Police Department's Explorers program was assigned to the jail as a detention deputy.
She was a 2016 graduate of Loveland High School, where she was the captain of the state championship junior ROTC program.
"She was driven, she was motivated, she was a hard charger and she was just a kid, and we are all going to miss her," Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams said at her funeral.
From September 2022: Procession honors Weld County Deputy Alexis Hein-Nutz
From September 2022: Careless driving, leaving scene among charges filed in hit-and-run
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