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Teen pleads guilty in 2007 fatal wreck

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 14, 2009

TAMPA - A Westchase teenager pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide today in the death of a motorcyclist in 2007.

John Robert Holland, 17, will be sentenced June 15. He faces up to six years in prison as a youthful offender. If he had been tried as an adult, the maximum penalty would have been 15 years.

Deputies said Holland was driving a 2005 Nissan 350Z north on Countryway Boulevard near Woodbay Drive on Sept. 26, 2007. Robert J. Baughman, 49, was traveling south on a motor-scooter or moped.

Authorities said Holland was speeding and passing cars and drove into the southbound lane. When Holland tried to return to the northbound lane, the Nissan began spinning and struck the scooter before veering into a pond.

Deputies said Baughman was thrown from his vehicle; he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698.

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