Carpentersville man sentenced to probation for crash that killed woman and unborn son
A Carpentersville man was sentenced Monday to 30 months of probation for causing a 2018 crash that killed a woman and her unborn son.
Frank Ruiz, 22, also must perform 300 hours of community service as part of a sentence handed down by Kane County Judge Judge Salvatore LoPiccolo.
Ruiz pleaded guilty in May to reckless homicide in connection with the May 19, 2018, death of Rocio Hernandez-Balderas of Carpentersville. Hernandez-Balderas was 37 weeks pregnant when an SUV driven by Ruiz blew through a stop light at Route 25 and Golfview Lane in Carpentersville and struck a car in which she was riding.
Two other people in the car were injured, including Hernandez-Balderas' daughter, Kendya Posadas.
During the first day of Ruiz's sentencing hearing Friday, Posadas read a victim-impact statement in which she told him, "My happiness is gone."
"It is a type of pain you will never get to experience," she added. "You took my mother's life, and it is not fair."
Prosecutors asked LoPiccolo to sentence Ruiz to 30 months of probation, the longest probation term possible in the case. His attorney, Regina Harris, agreed with the recommendation.
Ruiz could have been sentenced to as many as five years in prison.
"This is a tragic situation that occurred. He was very young," Harris said, adding that the crash happened on the day Ruiz graduated from high school, and while he was returning home from taking his younger brother to lunch.
According to authorities, Ruiz was driving a GMC Yukon SUV at 48 mph in a 25 mph zone when he disobeyed a traffic-control signal on northbound Route 25 and hit an eastbound Toyota Corolla. The impact sent the Corolla in to a utility box on the northeast corner.
Authorities said Ruiz told them he had become distracted by his brother, who was in the back seat.