A 19-year-old woman will serve nearly two years in prison for being the driver of a pickup truck that dragged a Wright County teenager to his death during a drug deal gone awry.
Noelle A. Ziegelmann of Montrose was sentenced in Wright County District Court to a term of nearly 3½ years in connection with the death late last summer of 18-year-old Justin Harvey, also of Montrose.
Ziegelmann pleaded guilty in late March to criminal vehicular homicide and had a robbery charge dismissed. With credit for nine months in jail since her arrest, Ziegelmann will serve about 22 months in prison and the balance on supervised release.
An alleged accomplice, James D. Striebel, 19, of Howard Lake, remains charged with second-degree murder and robbery and has been in jail since Harvey's death in late August.
Harvey had arranged a roadside meeting outside his house to sell a quarter-ounce of marijuana to Striebel, who was in the passenger seat of the pickup. Ziegelmann was driving, according to the charges.
Striebel grabbed the bags of marijuana and Ziegelmann floored the accelerator, the charges read. Harvey hung on as the pickup's tires squealed but soon let go. Deputies arrived at the 500 block of 1st Street N. and found Harvey near death. He later died.
Ziegelmann quickly confessed to the plot to rob Harvey of the marijuana.
