19-Year-Old Involved in Street Racing Crash That Killed 5 Pleads Guilty

A Farmingdale man pleaded guilty Thursday to a 17-count indictment in connection with a 2014 crash that killed five of his teenage friends and seriously injured two adults, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.

Cory Gloe, 19, was committed by a judge to serve a sentence of six months in jail and five years of probation in addition to one year of driver license revocation, the DA says. The judge also granted Gloe a youthful offender status, which means his criminal record will not be carried with him into adulthood.

Gloe, who was indicted in Jan. 2015, pleaded guilty to the following charges:

• Five counts of second degree manslaughter
• Two counts of second degree assault
• Second degree reckless endangerment
• Five counts of criminally negligent homicide
• Two counts of third degree assault
• Leaving the scene of an incident without reporting
• Reckless driving

After midnight on May 10, 2014, it is alleged that Gloe, who was 17 at the time and had a full driver’s license, was driving a 2008 Toyota Scion with four passengers in the car. He was leaving the vicinity of the Airport Plaza Mall parking lot on Route 110 in Farmingdale after “participating in organized street races on the streets behind the mall,” according to the DA.

While stopped at a red light at the Conklin Street and Route 110 intersection, Gloe was in the lane next to his friend, 17-year-old Tristan Reichle, who was driving a 2001 Nissan Sentra with four passengers, the DA’s office said.

Gloe challenged Reichle to a race several times, prosecutors say. When the traffic signal turned green, the two cars crossed Route 110 and were racing each other heading west on Conklin Street when Reichle lost control, crossed the double yellow lines into oncoming traffic and crashed into a 2011 GMC Terrain occupied by two adults.

Reichle and his passengers –18-year-old Jesse Romero, 14-year-old Carly Lonnborg, 15-year-old Noah Francis and 17-year-old Cody Talanian – were killed as a result of the crash.

The two adults in the GMC Terrain sustained serious injuries and have since each undergone multiple surgeries, the DA’s office said.

The death of Reichle, Romero, Lonnborg, Francis and Talanian, who were all current or former students at Farmingdale High School, shook up the community. Farmingdale High School offered grief counseling to help ease the pain of students who were affected by the fatal crash.

Authorities say Gloe’s car didn’t make contact with Riechle’s car or the SUV and Gloe’s attorney argued that the crash was Riechle’s fault and the speeding allegations were based on statements of impaired teenagers, according to Newsday.

Gloe originally pleaded not guilty at his 2015 indictment and had faced a maximum of five to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge, the DA’s office said.

The DA says the case will be back in court on May 20.

Patch file photo