Man gets 10 years in prison for Elgin DUI crash that killed 2 people

A 23-year-old man was sentenced to ten years in prison for a 2019 drunk driving crash that left two people dead in suburban Elgin.

Adrian Velasco, of Glendale Heights, pled guilty to two felony counts of aggravated DUI in October 2020 and was sentenced Friday to ten years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to a statement from the Kane County State’s Attorney.

Velasco was driving a 2012 Honda Accord just before 1:40 a.m. March 20, 2019, with a blood-alcohol concentration of .271, prosecutors said. He was driving west on Summit Street near Dundee Avenue at 77.5 mph, in a 30 mph zone, when he crashed 2018 Nissan stopped in a business exit, prosecutors said.

Omar Zavala, 30, was a passenger in the Nissan and pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors said. The driver of the Nissan, Norieli Villagomez, 26, was ejected from the vehicle and transported to an area hospital where she was later pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

A passenger in Velasco’s vehicle also serious injuries. The passenger also told police Velasco had been “driving all crazy,” was “too drunk to drive,” and had consumed Everclear grain alcohol and beer, prosecutors said.

Velasco must pay $36,000 in restitution to the victim’s families and must serve at least 85% of his ten-year sentence.

He has also received credit for 723 days served in the Kane County jail.

“A night of poor decisions and complete disregard for everyone destroyed two families,” Kane County State Attorney Jamie Mosser said. “The needless deaths of Omar Zavala and Norieli Villagomez were the worst. possible outcomes of Mr. Velasco’s criminal conduct”