SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A Vista mom whose two kids were hit and killed on State Route 78 last year while attempting to retrieve fallen luggage from the roadway was sentenced to three years, four months behind bars on Tuesday for her role in the incident.
Sandra Ortiz, 34, was arrested last June after two of her six children, 10-year-old Alan Gerardo and 16-year-old Amy Monserrat, were fatally struck on the highway near the Mar Vista Drive exit.
The two children had stepped out of the car after luggage had tumbled from the top of Ortiz’s SUV, prompting her to pull over.
According to prosecutors, at the time, Ortiz had a blood alcohol level almost two times the legal limit with almost 0.14.
The family of eight were also living without a permanent home at the time of the collision.
Ortiz originally pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence, gross vehicular manslaughter and child endangerment. However, she later changed her plea to guilty in late 2023 and committed to treatments for alcohol abuse.
During the emotional sentencing on Friday, Ortiz and her counsel hoped to lessen her sentence to probation based on this considerable treatment, arguing she was now a “very different person” then when the incident first occurred.
“I’m doing every power in my hands to switch my life around,” Ortiz said through tears, adding that the incident was a tragic mistake wrought by previous traumas and self medication with alcohol. “I’ll continue to do everything you guys ask me to do.”
“After a horrific series of events, the worst possible thing did happen,” her public defender said. “The only thing that matters now in Sandra Ortiz’s life, the only reason Sandra Ortiz has dedicated every once of her [being] to treatment and therapy, is so that she can provide her four living children with the love and care those children do deserve from their mother.”
The judge and the prosecutor from the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office both noted that she has been devoted to her treatment programs. However, the deputy district attorney argued a prison sentence was still warranted given the gravity of the case, and the judge agreed.
The judge conferred a minimal sentence due to what she explained as childhood detailed in Ortiz’s psychological exam that lead to her substance abuse, lack of a significant criminal record, her record in treatment, and the impact a long prison term would have on her other children.
Pacific Beach drowning victim identified as Austin, Texas man “I really hope that Ms. Ortiz, after you serve your prison term, that you will continue with your path to sobriety,” the judge told Ortiz during Tuesday’s hearing. “It has to continue when you get released from prison, not only make yourself a better human … but for your children.”
Two years were conferred for the first felony count of driving under the influence, one year and four months were given for second felony count of gross vehicular manslaughter, and a concurrent two year sentence was given for the third felony count of child endangerment.
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