Jan. 15—A Phillipsburg man who was accused of joyriding in a utility vehicle before crashing into a ditch, killing two passengers and seriously injuring a third, has pleaded guilty to indicted charges and a bill of information.
Clayton Anthony Cooper, 27, in three documents filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Jan. 10, plead guilty to two counts from a bill of information of involuntary manslaughter and one indicted charge of vehicular assault, all felonies, as well as one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass.
As part of the agreement, Cooper will be sentenced to a total prison term of four to six years, with the ability to file for judicial release after two. The prison term will be followed by up to five years of parole, one condition of which is that Cooper will be forbidden to drive alcoholic beverages.
Cooper also agreed to pay restitution.
Four counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of reckless homicide and one count each of aggravated vehicular assault, OVI and misdemeanor assault were dismissed.
He was not in the Montgomery County Jail at the time of writing.
Cooper’s charges reach back to late Oct. 14, 2022, when after drinking he reportedly took three women for a joyride in a 2021 Polaris RZR utility vehicle.
According to an Ohio State Highway Patrol crash report, while riding on the property of a tree nursery in the 1100 block of Hartman Road in Clay Twp., Cooper crashed into a ditch in a field shortly after midnight on Oct. 15.
Two passengers, 21-year-old Bailey Watson of Englewood and 20-year-old Madison Grow of Laura, were killed in the crash. A third woman, Leah Scott, 20, of Lewisburg, and Cooper were seriously injured.
The prosecutor’s office said Scott lost consciousness in the crash, but then regained consciousness and called 911. Medics took her and Cooper to Miami Valley Hospital, the crash report said.