WARREN - A Mecca woman sobbed as she was sentenced to five years in prison Friday after she pleaded guilty to striking and killing a former LaBrae High School football player with her car and then leaving the scene in 2010.
Brandy L. Schneider, 31, also tried to repair damage to the car the next day, according to a factual basis laid out by assistant county prosecutor Michael Burnett, who was set to try the case on Monday.
Schneider, of Geauga-Portage Easterly Road, had been free on $15,000 bond since her arrest on secret indictments last March when she was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide with specifications that alcohol was a factor in the death, leaving the scene of an accident and tampering with evidence.
Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay suspended Schneider's driver's license for life.
Schneider, whose family watched the proceeding, declined to say anything before sentencing.
And Sheila Macaluso, mother of victim Luke Macaluso, 19, declined to give a victim-impact statement in the courtroom.
Schneider was flanked by her attorneys Jay Milano and Jonathan Greenberg during the 15-minute court appearance.
Macaluso, of Center South Road in Braceville, was killed June 25, 2010, while walking with his girlfriend along Center South near his home. Reports state the pair were walking south when he was hit by the car heading south.
The motorist, who was unknown at the time, did not stop after hitting him, reports state.
Investigators had an initial description of the car that hit Macaluso, who had just finished his freshman year at the University of Akron.
Sgt. Ron Schneider, an accident investigator with the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Southington Post and no relation to the defendant, said the car was seized by investigators hours after Macaluso was killed.
Sgt. Schneider said Brandy Schneider first took the car to an auto glass repair shop to be repaired, but they could not fix the windshield because a part used to support it also was broken and that part needed to be fixed by an auto repair shop.
Sgt. Schneider said Brandy Schneider then took the car to an auto dealership in Champion, where they noticed the car fit the description of the one that hit Macaluso and informed the state patrol. Investigators found the car and questioned Brandy Schneider the same day, Sgt. Schneider said.
The car was described as being light in color.
Prosecutors declined to discuss the alcohol specification in the aggravated vehicular homicide charge, saying they couldn't reveal specific evidence in the case yet or where Schneider may have been drinking. Later though it became apparent that Burnett had surveillance video of Schneider drinking inside a Leavittsburg bar prior to the fatality.
Sgt. Schneider said the investigation took such a long time because evidence collected from Brandy Schneider's car took a long time to be tested. He said investigators wanted to be thorough before they took the case to a grand jury.
