Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
A Warsaw man will serve 42 months in prison for hitting a bicyclist while driving under the influence, resulting in serious bodily injury.
Armando Zaca Tlahuetl, 36, of 2131 Highlander Drive, Warsaw, was sentenced for serious bodily injury when operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher, a level 5 felony.
Tlahuetl plead guilty and was sentenced on Tuesday, June 9 in Kosciusko Superior Court III.
Defense attorney Elizabeth Milliken said Tlahuetl was not a legal resident of the United States. However, Tlahuetl has lived in Warsaw since he was 6 years old. Because of U.S. immigration laws, charges involving “moral turpitude” and any offense resulting in one or more years would be deemed an aggressive felony and would result in deportation.
Milliken described Tlahuetl’s potential deportation as “deportation to a country that is foreign to him.” Milliken asked the court to consider the hardship this would cause.
Milliken requested home detention or an alternative to traditional detention because this could prevent the charge from being labeled an aggressive felony and possibly prevent his deportation.
Kosciusko Superior Court III Judge Chad M. Miner responded to Milliken and Tlahuetl that OWI causing serious bodily injury was “simply not something Community Corrections is appropriate for.”
Miner also said he needed to look at the facts of the case and said he did not “think a more lenient sentence is appropriate in this situation.”
For causing serious bodily injury when operating a motor vehicle with an BAC of .08 or higher, Miner sentenced Tlahuetl to 42 months in the Indiana Department of Correction and one year suspended sentence on probation. His driver’s license was also suspended for six years.
The second charge of leaving the scene of an accident with moderate or serious bodily injury was dismissed.
Miner told Tlahuetl, “I don’t know … about immigration status, but that’s the sentence I’m handing down.”
Additionally, Deputy Prosecutor Dan Hampton requested $988.70 be provided to the victim. Milliken requested 30 days to review before responding to the request, which was approved by Miner.
Affidavit of Probable Cause
On Sept. 29, 2024, a Warsaw police officer responded to a hit-and-run vehicle accident at Detroit Street and Gilliam Drive. A vehicle hit a bicyclist and left the scene. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with Eduardo Johnathon, the bicyclist.
According to court documents, Johnathon was taken to Parkview Regional Medical Center for a laceration he sustained to the back of his head. It was determined Johnathon suffered a subdural hematoma. A person who was with Johnathon at the time of the accident said they were riding their bicycles south on Detroit Street when a vehicle hit Johnathon and left the scene.
A second Warsaw officer found the suspect vehicle traveling on Ind. 15 with a broken right headlight and substantial front-end damage. The vehicle’s driver was identified as Zaca Tlahuetl, who admitted to hitting Johnathon.
Officers smelled alcohol on Zaca Tlahuetl’s person, and Zaca Tlahuetl also admitted to consuming alcohol before the accident occurred.
Zaca Tlahuetl failed several field sobriety tests and tested 0.11% BrAC on a portable breath test.
