LEBANON, Ohio - A 15-year-old boy who crashed a car and killed his friend last May was found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide in Warren Court Juvenile Court on Monday.
The Montgomery County teen also accepted responsibility - the juvenile court equivalent of pleading guilty - to vehicular homicide, speeding and driving without an operator’s license.
Noah Theiss, 17, of Franklin Township, died in the crash on May 25 on a winding stretch of Springboro Road. Thiess, a front-seat passenger, was not wearing a seat belt.
The car went off the right side of the roadway, struck a utility pole and rolled over several times. The car was going 67 mph in a 55-mph zone, police said.
The driver and a 16-year-old in the back seat were treated and released.
Over the prosecutor’s objections, Judge Joe Kirby ordered the 15-year-old to be transferred to Montgomery County, where he lives, for sentencing.
“The objective is to treat a child in their home county,” the judge said.
Kirby said he was “stunned” to learn the teen was arrested in Montgomery County and charged with driving under suspension several weeks after the fatal crash.
Thiess had just finished his junior year at Bishop Fenwick High School in Middletown.
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