The owner of a car that crashed in Castine last December, killing four Maine Maritime Academy students, was indicted Friday on four counts of manslaughter and other charges.
Dominick Gecoya, 21, of Middleton, Massachusetts, has been identified as the owner of the vehicle, a 2013 Range Rover, and as a passenger in the car at the time of the crash, which happened on Route 166 in the early morning hours of Dec. 10, 2022.
Gecoya is the second person to face manslaughter and other charges as a result of the deadly crash. The alleged driver, Joshua Goncalves-Radding, 20, of Babylon, New York, was indicted in April on four manslaughter and other charges.
Seven people, all of them MMA students, were in the vehicle when it crashed, police have said. Police estimate that Goncalves-Radding was driving between 106 and 111 mph when the car went off the road as the group was returning from a night out in Bangor, according to Robert Granger, district attorney for Hancock County.
The car hit a tree and burst into flames when it went off the road, Shannon Moss, spokesperson for Maine State Police, said the day of the crash.
Granger said Friday evening that state law allows people to be charged with crimes under a provision known as accomplice liability. Because Gecoya owned the car and allowed Goncalves to drive it, Gecoya bears some criminal responsibility for what happened, the prosecutor said.
Granger declined to describe the specific chain of events prior to the crash that resulted in Goncalves driving the car instead of Gecoya. He said that, when the car went off the road and crashed into a tree, Gecoya was riding in the cargo space in the very back of the car.
“I’m unable at this time to go into details,” Granger said.
The students who died were Brian Kenealy, 20, of York; Chase Fossett, 21, of Gardiner; Luke Simpson, 22, of Rockport, Massachusetts; and Riley Ignacio-Cameron, 20, of Aquinnah, Massachusetts.
In addition to four counts of manslaughter, a Hancock County grand jury indicted Gecoya on five counts of aggravated criminal operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicants, one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, two counts of driving to endanger and one count of criminal speed. All but two of the 13 charges are considered felonies.
Goncalves-Radding, Gecoya and the other surviving passenger, Noelle Tavares 20, of North Falmouth, Massachusetts, all suffered serious injuries in the crash, according to Granger.
