Virginia Cundiff, the Ignacio woman sentenced to 15 months in La Plata County Jail on Dec. 9 for a fatal car crash in February, was sentenced to 10 months in jail Tuesday for a crash that injured a man in August 2021.
The man, Josh Hofmann, asked Judge David Lobato if Cundiff’s 10-month sentence could be served in addition to the 15 months she received Friday for the crash that killed Dominic Sandoval. The judge said if he accepts the plea deal Cundiff struck with the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office he cannot order it to be served consecutively.
Since the crash, which occurred Aug. 30, 2021, on Florida Road near Francil Excavation, Hofmann said he has toiled over the meaning of the word “victim.” He doesn’t like the ring of it. His approach to hardship is to “improvise, adapt, overcome,” he said, but treatment for his injuries will go on a little longer, and the crash has changed his life forever.
A court summons filed in La Plata County Court on Sept. 15, 2021, says Cundiff was driving a 2011 Buick at the time of the crash. After the crash, she failed to present insurance immediately upon request; failed to provide information or aid after damaging another vehicle; and failed to notify police after the accident. In addition, she was in unlawful possession of a Schedule II drug substance and drug paraphernalia.
In her plea agreement, Cundiff pleaded guilty to careless driving “without due regard” for traffic causing serious bodily injury to Hofmann. She faced between 10 days and one year in jail, and the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office requested the latter.
The afternoon of Aug. 30, 2021, Hofmann was driving east on Florida Road about 1 mile east of Durango when he spotted Cundiff heading west on Florida Road from Edgemont, he said Wednesday. She was driving fast and approaching a Subaru in her lane when she turned into Hofmann’s lane and crashed head-on into his truck.
Hofmann was knocked out as soon as his vehicle was hit, he said. His truck flew through a retaining wall and landed on top of a gas meter. Nearby workers for M&R Plumbing came to his aid. Hofmann, then conscious in his truck, said he remembers hearing the workers knocking on his window, although “it sounded like a million miles away.”
By the time Hofmann was removed from the truck, an ambulance was on the scene. He suffered serious injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, he said. From the ambulance, he called his wife, Heather Hofmann, who rushed to the scene of the crash.
Heather Hofmann said she had to request Colorado State Patrol on the scene for an accident report for the truck, which was totaled, and a trailer it was pulling, and she also asked for a field sobriety test to be performed on Cundiff.
She took photos of the scene, including photos of what she said were drugs placed by Cundiff on the top of Cundiff’s car. She said CSP initially incorrectly filed a report that said no injuries had occurred and she had to visit the DA’s office to provide proof of her husband’s injuries.
The Hofmanns said Cundiff should have been arrested after the crash with Josh Hofmann. He said he submitted a victim’s statement to the court warning that if Cundiff wasn’t taken off the streets and helped with getting sober she’d end up killing someone.
“And sure as (expletive), that's what happened,” he said.
After Cundiff failed to appear at multiple hearings and was arrested on a warrant, she was granted release on a personal recognizance bond by La Plata County Judge Anne Woods on Feb. 7, three days before the fatal crash involving Sandoval on Colorado Highway 172 would occur, he said.
“Judge Anne Woods was not retained, and I think that speaks greatly to people in this area who are tired of ‘soft on crime,’” he said. “... Anne Woods was extremely soft on crime.”
Hofmann said law and order has to include consequences for crimes that effectively deter more people from breaking the law; just consequences can also encourage people to get sober and seek help for themselves.
With a sentencing of just 10 months, Hofmann said “she (Cundiff) won’t hurt enough to feel a need to change.”
Cundiff’s public defender said Cundiff has suffered drug addiction for most of her life, driven by PTSD and anxiety from childhood trauma and a rough family life.
The judge asked Cundiff when her drug addiction began. She said it started after she shattered her femur at age 11, and in her teenage years, she sold drugs to support herself without help from her family.
Her lawyer said Cundiff is addressing her drug addiction, is receiving treatment and intends to continue treatment after her eventual release.
The public defender requested the court sentence Cundiff to no more than seven months in jail.
“Everything that happened this past year has been life-altering,” Cundiff told the court.
Cundiff was sentenced Friday to 15 months in jail for a Feb. 10 crash on Colorado Highway 172, where Cundiff ran into a stationary work truck killing Sandoval and injuring his work partner, George Sedlack.
cburney@durangoherald.com
A previous version of this story contained incorrect facts, specifically that Tuesday’s sentencing was in relation to a crash that occurred Feb. 10 on Colorado Highway 172 and killed a man. Tuesday’s sentencing was for a different crash.
