B.C. man pleads no contest in girlfriend's 1982 U.S. death
A British Columbia man who said he tried to land an airplane on a Montana lake in 1982 in an attempt to elope with his girlfriend pleaded no contest Thursday to felony negligent homicide for her death.
Jaroslaw (Jerry) Ambrozuk entered the plea before District Judge Stewart Stadler, who scheduled sentencing March 8. Under the plea agreement, Ambrozuk faces up to 10 years in prison.
"Mr. Ambrozuk, you stand convicted of negligent homicide," Stadler said in accepting the plea change in Kalispell, a small city in northwest Montana.
During the brief court appearance, Stadler questioned Ambrozuk thoroughly about whether he understood the charge and potential penalties. Ambrozuk answered "yes" and offered no further testimony about what happened in September 1982.
Details at sentencing
"That will come up at sentencing," Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said shortly afterward.
In October, Ambrozuk told the court he and Dianne Babcock, 18, had planned to elope in 1982.
They left Canada and planned to put down a rented plane in Little Bitterroot Lake near Marion and disappear into the United States, he said.
In recorded telephone calls to a friend, Ambrozuk said he intended toland the plane in a lake, swim away and disappear. But he said the front wheels hit the water and the plane flipped over. He said Babcock couldn't unbuckle her seat belt before the plane sank.
Ambrozuk didn't report the crash or his girlfriend's death to authorities but called a friend and asked him to call law enforcement.
Ambrozuk was a fugitive until Aug. 30, 2006, when he was arrested in Plano, Texas, living under an assumed name.
He also faces a federal indictment for living in the United States illegally for the last 24 years.
Sheriff skeptical about story
Among those at Thursday's hearing was Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont, one of the original investigators in the case. Dupont said he remained skeptical of Ambrozuk's claim he was in love with Babcock and her death was accidental.
"It still bothers me that he had an opportunity, not only after the crash, but for the next 24 years" to come forward, Dupont told the Daily Inter Lake newspaper in Kalispell.
"If it happened the way he said it did, then why didn't he come forward?"
He said the girl's death might not have been premeditated but it certainly was negligent.
"Just landing a plane in the lake at night was negligent," Dupont said.
Ambrozuk said in court last fall that following the crash, he went to New York City for a short time and then moved to Texas, where he changed his name, earned a college degree and started a software-development company. His assets at the time of his arrest included $500,000 US worth of property and a $71,000 Dodge Viper.
In court Thursday, Corrigan said his office agreed to drop additional felony charges, including criminal mischief. He said convictions on those charges could be considered aggravating circumstances and lead to stiffer penalties for the federal charges Ambrozuk still faces.