Woman Ordered To Visit Grave Of Victim In Dakota County Crash

DAKOTA COUNTY, MN — A 57-year-old woman has been ordered by a Twin Cities judge to visit the grave of the woman she killed in a car crash. Last year, Lori Janine Hoefs, 57, of Oronoco pled guilty to reckless and careless driving charges in a fatal 2016 incident in Dakota County.

Lori Janine Hoefs, 57, of Oronoco, admitted she was on the phone and did not see the stop sign before the collision. The crash — which happened at Highway 56 and County Road 88 in Randolph Township — killed Brenda Travis, 78, of Rochester and caused serious injuries to three others.

Last week, Hoefs was placed on probation for up to two years and sentenced to 180 days in jail.

In addition, Hoefs is to attend a driving improvement clinic, perform 30 hours of community work service where she is to talk about distracted driving, visit Brenda Travis’ grave once each year of probation, and pay $1,000 fine and $80 surcharge.

"Distracted driving occurs far too often and can easily result, as it did here, in death and injury," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said in a statement.

Backstrom expressed his sympathy to the family of Brenda Travis and wishes for the ongoing recovery of the other individuals injured in this crash.