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Utah man sentenced to prison for drunken driving death

(Courtesy Millard County Jail) George Jakob Schafer

An 18-year-old Millard County man has been sentenced to prison for causing the death of his 15-year-old female passenger while driving drunk last December.

George Jakob Schafer, of Delta, was sentenced to prison last month for up to five years for the Dec. 1 death of Noelia Orona.

Schafer had pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to third-degree felony counts of automobile homicide and failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving serious injury. In exchange for his pleas, counts of DUI with serious bodily injury and consumption of alcohol by a minor were dismissed.

Court documents state that just after midnight on Dec. 1, a Millard County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched on a call from a Delta resident who said a suspicious person, later identified as Schafer, was knocking on doors in the vicinity of 4000 West and 2000 South in Delta.

Schafer said there had been an accident, but acted nervous and left when the resident said she was going to call the police, court documents state.

The deputy was unable to locate the suspicious person, but did find a vehicle that had run off the road and rolled into a field.

The deputy observed a dead person, later identified as Orona, inside the vehicle.

At some point, Schafer returned to the scene of the crash and admitted he had been drinking and driving, court documents state.

Court documents state that Schafer’s blood-alcohol level was later found to be 0.10, which is over the legal limit for driving of 0.08.