Driver in crash that killed Jim Thorpe cheerleaders is sentenced
Tegan Kane, right, arrives at District Court in Jim Thorpe in 2017 flanked by family and supporters. TIMES NEWS FILE PHOTO
An Albrightsville man who was the driver in a fatal crash in Penn Forest Township in 2015 was sentenced Friday morning in Carbon County court.
Tegan Lestat Kane, who was 18 at the time of the crash that claimed the lives of Taylor Shepherdson, 16, and Jasmine Fonseca, 15, both of Albrightsville, was sentenced by Judge Steven Serfass to three months to one day less than 24 months in county prison. He must also serve one year probation.
Relatives of Shepherdson and Fonseca were present in the courtroom and their mothers asked Serfass to not give Kane a jail sentence.
Kane’s brother, Korben, who sustained a severe brain injury in the crash and will require constant care for the rest of his life, was also in the courtroom.
Kane was driving with Shepherdson, Fonseca and Korben Kane, who were all Jim Thorpe Area High School students, along Route 903 in Penn Forest Township on the night of Aug. 20, 2015, when he lost control of the vehicle due to heavy rain and crossed into the path of a Buick Enclave, driven by Verner Drohan, 76, and his wife, Gail, 72, both of Fulton, New York. Verner Drohan suffered minor injuries but his wife suffered a number of broken bones in her hands, feet, sternum and one in her neck.
The girls were being driven home from cheerleading practice a few days before the start of the new school year. Also in the vehicle were Taylor Schmidt of Lehighton and Michael Thorpe of New Jersey. Schmidt and Thorpe both suffered serious injuries which required surgeries and a long recovery. Tegan Kane suffered minor injuries.
Kane was charged by state police at Fern Ridge with two felony counts of homicide by vehicle and related charges.
In March, Kane pleaded guilty before Serfass to one count of aggravated assault by vehicle and simple assault and two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
In a plea bargain with the district attorney’s office two other counts of aggravated assault by vehicle and two counts each of homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter were dropped.
A second case against Kane from April 2017, where he was charged with aggravated and simple assault and recklessly endangering another person is still pending.
In that case, Kane was charged with hitting another person on the head with a bottle at a party in Penn Forest Township.
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