Pa. woman pleads guilty in boyfriend's DUI crash death

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) — A southwestern Pennsylvania woman has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of drugs and involuntary manslaughter for a crash that killed her boyfriend.

Erica Dawn Gindlesperger, 32, of Johnstown, faces up to 5 1/2 years in prison when she returns to be sentenced by a Somerset County judge on Sept. 25.

Conemaugh Township police found the woman had traces of a cocaine metabolite and two anxiety medications in her bloodstream when she crashed on Nov. 27, 2010.

Gindlesperger’s passenger, 34-year-old Matthew Kozak, died five days later of a brain injury.

Gindlesperger didn’t comment after Tuesday’s guilty pleas.

Police say she was driving at least 49 mph in a 35 mph zone and hit a utility pole and an embankment when rounding a curve on Route 403.