FARMINGTON — A New Portland woman pleaded guilty Friday to filing a false public report in a vehicle-pedestrian accident that claimed the life of a Wilton woman in 2016, according to a Franklin County court document.
Taylor Gaboury, 21, of Wilton was walking along Routes 2 and 4 early Jan. 1, 2016, when she was struck by a car and killed.
Nikita Tolman, 27, called 911 at about 1:40 a.m. Jan. 1 to report a person had been struck by a vehicle and knocked down over the embankment, according to a police affidavit.
Tolman was the girlfriend of Tommy Clark, 26, of Industry, the driver in the fatal accident. He pleaded guilty in July 2016 to operating under the influence causing death and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident. He is serving three years of a seven-year sentence for the OUI and concurrently one year of a four-year sentence for leaving the scene.
Clark left his passengers, including Tolman, near the scene of the accident and drove to a nearby motel.
Farmington police previously said Tolman misled them in an effort to help her boyfriend “conceal” he was the driver of a car involved in the fatal accident.
Tolman and another person were interviewed by police the morning of the accident. Police were told they were returning from a party they had attended and saw a boot in the road, which drew their attention and eventually led them to the victim down the embankment, according to the affidavit.
Police later learned that Tolman and the other witness were in the car with Clark, and that Tolman saw the pedestrian and tried to warn him, but it was too late.
Tolman is scheduled to be sentenced for the false report charge on June 19 at a Farmington court. The state dismissed a charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution in a plea agreement Friday.
A conviction on the false report charge is punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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