Largo woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for fatal hit-and-run in Pinellas Park

A Largo woman who fatally struck a bicyclist while driving drunk last July will spend 10 years in prison, a Pinellas County judge ruled earlier this month.

Anaya Elisia Millan, 26, pleaded guilty June 13 to drunken manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, ending a twisty case that led Deputy Pinellas County sheriff to resign.

While returning from a club with two friends after 3 a.m. on July 29, 2023, Millan struck William Christopher Rothey, 37, who was riding his bicycle along the shoulder in the 11700 block of 66th Street in Pinellas Park. After the crash, she drove off without stopping or checking on Rothey, police said.

Rothey died at a local hospital shortly afterward. He leaves behind a 5-year-old son.

Junior Lewis, a deputy with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, stopped Millan for a broken tail light shortly after the crash. He noticed signs of impairment and that his windshield was collapsed and his front bumper was dented, according to Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

Despite this, Lewis told him to change seats with the front passenger of the car and allowed him to leave.

Millan abandoned his Hyundai Sonata in the parking lot of a Publix at 7333 Park Blvd., police said. Authorities released her name later that day, seeking information on her whereabouts. She returned the next evening.

Police said Nicole Ventura, 25, drove the car after the traffic stop and helped Millan get rid of it. She was charged with accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence. Ventura has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and is still awaiting trial.

Lewis, the deputy, resigned Dec. 14 as an internal investigation concluded. In a memo summarizing his findings, Gualtieri wrote that if he had not resigned, he would have been fired.

Because Lewis did not conduct an interrogation to determine whether Millan was intoxicated, authorities said at the time that she could not be charged with manslaughter while under the influence. alcohol.

However, this was not the case.

Although she was initially charged with fleeing the scene of a fatal accident, prosecutors brought an additional charge of drunken driving manslaughter on May 28.

In a six-page letter to the court the next day, Millan said the state lacked evidence to file charges, citing the traffic stop ended without a sobriety test. She asked the court to grant her leniency, waive the minimum sentence and allow her to return to her son, with whom she had not been for almost a year.

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“I'm not perfect and I'm growing and learning more and more every day,” Millan wrote. “The only thing I humbly ask for is a chance.”

Brian Pingor, Millan's attorney, declined to comment on the case.

Assistant Prosecutor Carl Bauer credited the Pinellas Park Police Department with doing the work necessary to bring the charge.

After the accident, officers identified the three bars Millan visited, according to Bauer. Surveillance footage from two of the bars showed the drinks Millan consumed, while one of the passengers in her car told police how many drinks she had at the third establishment.

Because the group drank shots of Patrón tequila, which Bauer said had a relatively standard alcohol content, police were able to determine approximately how much alcohol was in Millan's system at the time of the shooting. the accident.

Using that evidence, forensic toxicologists came up with an estimate of his blood alcohol level at the time of the crash, Bauer said.

According to the forensic report, Millan's blood alcohol content was likely between 0.132 and 0.219 – above the limit at which Florida law presumes a driver to be impaired – even assuming his last drink was n has not yet been completely absorbed into his blood.

“We had to create a whole timeline using GPS data from his phone,” Bauer said. “We wanted to know if we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Richard Pollenz, a professor of molecular biosciences at the University of South Florida, wrote in an email that blood-alcohol estimates are possible even without a blood or breath test, although these estimates carry a margin of error. higher error than direct measurements.

A mathematical formula allows toxicologists to estimate a person's blood alcohol content based on the number of drinks consumed, body mass index, gender and the time and duration of alcohol consumption relative to the time of the incident, Pollenz wrote.

Millan's sentence under the agreement is less than the recommended sentence of 13 years, Bauer said.

“We were happy with the outcome because the families did not have to bear the costs of a trial,” he said. “The 10-year offer was to avoid having to go to trial so the family could have closure. »