Weslee Ray Clough, Oroville, 21, pled guilty in Okanogan Superior Court on Thursday, July 17 to vehicular homicide by being under the influence of alcohol or drugs and operating a vehicle in a reckless manner.

In taking the plea agreement the Oroville man received a sentence of 21 months in jail for the accident that resulted in the death of Justin A. Reese, 19, Oroville.

Clough was driving a vehicle just before midnight on Friday, Oct. 5, 2007 when he failed to negotiate a curve on Wannacut Lake Road about a half mile from the Loomis-Oroville Highway. The Dodge vehicle traveled down a steep embankment and rolled over five times. Reese, a passenger in the vehicle, was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected. He was declared dead at the scene early the next day.

Clough, who was trapped in the vehicle and a second passenger, Amber D. Mazza, were injured in the crash. Mazza walked a quarter-mile from what Sheriff Frank Rogers described at the time as a “totally destroyed” vehicle to call for help. Both Clough and Mazza were treated at North Valley Hospital in Tonasket.