Saturday, January 25th, 2025
New Paris man pleads guilty in fatal buggy crash
By William Kincaid
CELINA - A New Paris man pleaded guilty Friday to four felony charges stemming from a 2023 head-on collision with a horse-drawn buggy that killed a 1-year-old girl and injured several members of her family.
Trey Frech, 25, who was originally indicted on 10 charges, appeared for a change-of-plea hearing before Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Matthew Fox. Frech pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, and three counts of vehicular assault, a fourth-degree felony.
As part of a negotiated plea agreement, the other six charges will be dismissed - aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony; three counts of aggravated vehicular assault, a third-degree felony; and two counts of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a first-degree misdemeanor - according to a court official.
Fox accepted Frech's guilty pleas and set sentencing for Feb. 19.
Mercer County Central Dispatch received a call reporting an accident at State Route 49 north of Oregon Road at 5:18 p.m. Dec. 23, 2023, according to a news release at the time from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office.
Frech, then 24, was reportedly driving a 2016 white Chevy sedan northbound on State Route 49. John Schwartz, then 24, of Celina was traveling with his family southbound in a horse-drawn buggy.
Frech allegedly went into the southbound lane to pass a northbound van and struck the Schwartz buggy head-on, ejecting Frech from his vehicle, according to the release.
Frech was airlifted from the scene by Lutheran Air and transported to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne. Schwartz was transported by Celina Emergency Medical Services to Mercer County Community Hospital in Coldwater and treated and released.
Roseanne Schwartz, 1, was pronounced dead at the scene. The horse was seriously injured and later died, according to the release.
Elizabeth Schwartz, then 26 and more than seven months pregnant, was transported by Celina EMS to Community Hospital and later transferred to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. John Schwartz Jr., then 3, was transported by Celina EMS to Community Hospital.
All survivors have since recovered and the pregnancy was not affected, according to county prosecutor Erin Minor.
