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A second person has pleaded guilty in the fatal crash last year that killed a teenager and seriously injured another on the gravel road near Glenville beach. 

Shelby Luv Watkins, 20, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of aiding and abetting criminal vehicular operation, a felony, tied to the crash as part of a plea agreement with the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office. 

The crash, which took place on Aug. 27, 2020, on 795th Avenue, killed 17-year-old passenger James Joseph Amarosa III of Albert Lea and severely injured Cameron Michael Cunningham of Twin Lakes. Watkins and passenger Chase Garza were also injured.

Watkins was the front-seat passenger in the car during the crash and had reportedly allowed her boyfriend at the time, Dominik Boots-Ringoen, 19, to drive her 2002 Ford Taurus the night of the crash, even though she knew he didn’t have a valid license and that he had a pending DWI charge. 

She said she was driving everyone to a bonfire and had no alcohol in her system the night of the crash. She did not know that Boots-Ringoen or any of the others in the car had been drinking before picking them up and said they were acting “like normal boys.”

Watkins said she drove until they got to the Glenville Beach road and then Boots-Ringoen asked if he could drive her car and go “clip” the road, which she said essentially meant to go for a ride. She said he missed driving.

She admitted to hanging out of the passenger window and remembered having to get back into the vehicle before they crashed into a tree. She did not remember much after that until police came to the scene. 

Boots-Ringoen admitted last week to losing control of the car while drifting on the road, a technique in which the driver intentionally oversteers to cause a loss of traction and causes the vehicle to drift sideways. The car was heading southbound on 795th Avenue when it went into the ditch and struck the tree.

Boots-Ringoen’s plea agreement calls for serving 365 days in jail, along with 10 years of probation, community service and other terms. 

Watkins’ plea agreement calls for a stay of imposition for up to 10 years with supervised probation and a cap of 30 days of jail time. It also calls for restitution for the victims as requested by the victims and participating in a minimum of eight hours of community service at the direction of probation. She will be required to maintain 40 hours or more of employment per week or be expected to perform additional hours of community service for the hours less than 40 she works. She will also have to complete both chemical and mental health assessments. 

As part of her agreement, her other charge of aiding and abetting criminal vehicular homicide would be dismissed. 

Both Watkins and Boots-Ringoen are slated to be sentenced Oct. 7.