(La Porte, IN) - A man has been convicted in connection with a fatal motor vehicle crash in La Porte County.

 

64 year old John Niego of Kingsbury was found guilty Friday in a bench trial in La Porte Circuit Court.

 

Taren Abair, 29, of Grovertown died in the crash in 2020 on U.S. 6 in Johnson Township.

 

According to La Porte County Police, Niego was driving very erratically in his Dodge Ram pick-up truck when he struck the front driver’s side corner of an oncoming semi-truck and the victim’s oncoming SUV.

 

According to police, Niego, who suffered injuries in the crash, did not have any alcohol or drugs in his system despite his erratic driving.

 

The victim's two year old son also was injured. 

 

Niego was found guilty on two counts of felony criminal recklessness and misdemeanor aggressive driving.

 

He could face anywhere from a one to six year on sentence on the most serious charge and additional time on the remaining counts.

 

La Porte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan gave credit to two of his deputy prosecutors and the lead police investigator in the case.

 

“Autumn Ferch and Brody Shoffner did an excellent job presenting our case, built on the strong investigative work of Sgt Scott Boswell of the Sheriff’s Office," he said.