In the News: South Beach “Party Princess” Expected to Take Plea Deal in Fatal Crash Case

A self-described “party princess” is expected to plead guilty this afternoon to the gruesome hit-and-run car crash that killed South Beach chef Stefano Riccioletti in January.

Karlie Tomica, according to sources, has agreed to serve four years behind bars, two years house arrest and 15 years of probation. She is just four days shy of her 21^st birthday.

Tomica, a former FIU student and bartender at Nikki Beach, was driving home on Collins Avenue in the early hours of January 29 when her car struck Riccioletti outside the Shelborne. She drove off, but a witness called 911 and followed Tomica to her Mid-Beach apartment building, where she was ultimately arrested.

According to prosecutors, Tomica refused to take a breath test at the scene, Eth said, and later fell asleep in a chair at the Miami Beach police station

Two hours after the crash, toxicology reports showed that her blood alcohol level was still three times the legal limit.

Tomica described herself as a “party princess” on her Twitter account and her case drew national headlines.

She is charged with DUI manslaughter, leaving the scene of an accident involving a fatality, resisting arrest without violence and DUI property damage.

Tomica’s plea bargain comes three months after another young woman, former University of Miami student Ivanna Villanueva, pleaded guilty to a DUI crash that killed a grandmother in Coral Gables. Villanueva, 21, agreed to three years in prison as a youthful offender.

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Source:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/07/3547727/plea-expected-by-party-princess.html