Fugitive Pleads Guilty in Fatal Springs Crash 20 Years Ago
A man who was on the run for 19 years following a crash in Springs that left his passenger dead pleaded guilty to the charges on Wednesday. He will be sentenced in January, exactly 20 years to the day of the crash.
Wilson Pantosin, a 45-year-old from Ecuador who was found living in Texas earlier this year, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree, a felony, two counts of vehicular manslaughter in the second degree, also a felony, and two counts of driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini. Mr. Pantosin had fled the area after he was released on bail following his initial arrest.
“Almost 20 years after the defendant killed his friend while driving drunk, justice is finally being served for the victim,” Mr. Sini said. “This conviction was the result of great work and collaboration by my office, particularly assistant district attorney Maggie Bopp, and the Suffolk County Police Department’s Fugitive Squad who made sure this defendant answered for his crimes.”
On Jan. 28, 1999, Mr. Pantosin, who was 25, was driving a 1995 Dodge Neon north on Hog Creek Road in Springs when he lost control of the car and drove across the oncoming traffic lane and onto the southbound shoulder, investigators said. The car struck a tree, a utility pole, and a guy-wire before overturning and catching fire. Mr. Pantosin was able to get out of the burning car and suffered only minor lacerations to his head.
East Hampton Town police asked him if there was anyone else in the car and he said there was not. But, after personnel from the Springs Fire Department extinguished the flames, police discovered the remains of Wilson Illaisaca, 25, of East Hampton, in the passenger seat of the vehicle.
Mr. Illaisaca’s cause of death was thermal injury and smoke inhalation with blunt force trauma as a contributing factor, according to the Suffolk County medical examiner, the D.A.'s office said.
Mr. Pantosin's blood alcohol level about 55 minutes after the crash was .22 percent, a toxicology report showed.
He was released o $1,000 bail following an arraignment in East Hampton Town Justice Court, and then never showed up at his next court date in March of 1999.
It was not until earlier this year that he was found in Harris County, Tex. The fugitive squad extradited him from Texas, and he was brought back to Suffolk County on Feb. 28.
Mr. Pantosin faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in front of Suffolk County Acting Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho on Jan. 28, 2019.