A Valparaiso woman pleaded guilty in plea agreement with the State last week in Starke Circuit Court on a charge of causing death when operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Level 4 Felony.
Brandi Pilarczyk, 36, admitted to Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall that she had been drinking beer the day of May 31, 2021 at a friend’s house in Knox and was driving herself to her home in Valparaiso around 9:30 p.m. CT. As she traveled west on 50 S. approaching State Road 39, her cell phone fell off the console. She reached down to pick up the phone and did not realize her proximity to State Road 39 and went through the stop sign at that intersection. As a result, she hit a vehicle driven by Dennis Clemons of North Judson, an action she described as hitting a brick wall. Clemons died as result of injuries of that crash.
She was subsequently arrested on a charge of causing death when operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Pilarczyk was called as witness during the hearing where she testified under oath that she was in a bad mental space at the time of the accident. She had been arrested on an impaired driving charge four years prior to this incident and went through classes, but decided to drive impaired on this particular day which caused this tragedy. After this second incident, she explained that she started taking classes for rehabilitation, and found a Tuesday night Narcotics Anonymous class in Porter County where she has been participating in the process. She has even been certified in SMART Recovery in her continued quest for rehabilitation. She also facilitates classes, and often times hosts classes at the Starke County Justice Center.
Her sponsor also testified as to the success Pilarczyk has found in her recovery and the continued participation in classes.
She stated that while this accident created loss and she will live with this tragedy for the rest of her life, she is using this heartbreaking experience to convince others to choose the path to sobriety.
Clemons’ brother presented comments on behalf of the family where he recounted the loss of Dennis Clemons that day. He stated that his brother cared for their parents who were failing in health, and was a great person. He noted that this incident caused great hardships with the family and they continue to fight through those hardships.
The State of Indiana, represented by Starke County Prosecuting Attorney Leslie Baker, and Defense Attorney James Blankenship negotiated a plea agreement where the sentence and placement would be argued to Judge Hall with a cap of eight years. The State argued for a portion of the sentence to be served in the Department of Corrections while the defense argued for home detention with electronic monitoring.
Judge Hall did accept the plea agreement and agreed to allow Pilarczyk to serve an eight year sentence with electronic monitoring and to follow all programming recommended by Community Corrections. Judge Hall noted that she could use her efforts to be a great help to others who participate in recovery classes to choose the same path of sobriety, and she can do that while serving time on electronic monitoring. He made it a part of her community service to continue to facilitate classes and to host a few classes remotely or in person at the Starke County Justice Center.
