Connecticut Trucking Company Owner Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison

The former owner of a Connecticut trucking company has been sentenced to six years in jail on manslaughter and insurance fraud charges for his role in a fiery truck crash at a major suburban intersection that left four people dead, and 23 others injured.

David Wilcox, 73, owned the truck the crashed on July 29 near the base of Avon Mountain. The truck, part of the fleet of American Crushing and Recycling, slammed into an intersection after its transmission failed, touching off a string of explosive collisions between buses and cars. The judge in the case agreed with prosecutors that Wilcox was reckless in failing to adequately maintain the safety of his vehicles.

He pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year.

Killed in the crash were motorists Barbara Bongiovanni, 54, Maureen Edlund, 60, Paul A. “Chip” Stotler, 42, and the truck’s driver, Abdulraheem Naafi, 41.

In the minutes following the crash, Wilcox’s wife, Donna, sought to reinstate liability insurance coverage on the truck after learning of the accident from her husband. In doing so, she failed to disclose that the crash had just occurred.

His wife has already pleaded guilty to insurance fraud charges relating to the incident.

Wilcox’s lack of a formal apology had made him into something of a local pariah throughout the investigation and prosecution of the case. In the days following the crash, Wilcox tried to lay the blame for the accident on the driver, Naafi, whom he at one point insinuated might have caused the crash intentionally.

Donna Wilcox is scheduled to be sentenced in July. His son, Shaun, has already pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in the case, after he shredded maintenance records on the truck.