PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The man charged with a hit-and-run crash that killed a Pinellas County deputy in September 2022 changed his plea to guilty on Friday.
Juan Molina-Salles pled guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of a crash involving death, and a judge accepted the plea in court Friday.
The case started in September 2022 when Pinellas County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Hartwick, 51, was working a traffic detail on I-275 to provide safety and security for the ongoing construction along the road. Gualtieri said Deputy Hartwick arrived at the location around 10:40 p.m.
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The PCSO said Hartwick got out of his cruiser and walked around the front of his car onto the shoulder of the road. Gualtieri said a few minutes later, a frontloader with forklift-type arms passed by the area traveling approximately 20 miles per hour, escorted by a white pickup truck.
PCSO said the front loader hit and killed Deputy Hartwick instantly. The truck stopped, but Gualtieri said the front loader continued down the road before eventually pulling off to the side of the road.
Molina-Salles was the driver of the front loader. After stopping, he allegedly removed his construction vest and hat, gave them to another worker, and asked the other worker to get rid of the clothing. Deputies said Molina-Salles then left the area, heading north.
After an hours-long manhunt, Molina-Salles was taken into custody and charged.
"This defendant post-Miranda admitted to striking and killing Deputy Hartwick and fleeing the scene of the crash," said Elizabeth Constantine, an Assistant State Attorney.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office at the time said the investigation was hindered because many of the construction workers were undocumented and gave detectives false names. The Sheriff's Office said Archer Western in Tampa employed the workers, and it is a contractor for the Florida Department of Transportation.
“The defendant in this case is a Honduran national who was in the country illegally at the time," said Constantine.
The Sheriff's Office said Molina-Salles had entered the country once illegally and was deported back to Mexico but later returned through Eagle Pass, Texas, and had been in Tampa from March 2022 until the time of the deadly crash.
Before the plea, a victim advocate read a statement from Hartwick's son.
“While many people knew my dad as a deputy, he was also many other things: he was a mason, a Navy veteran, a member of the American Legion, and a volunteer in the community," the statement read. "He dedicated his life to service for others and gave the ultimate sacrifice. My dad was a friend to everyone. To know him was to love him.”
The mandatory minimum sentence for the crime is four years, with a cap set in court Friday at 20 years.
The sentencing date is March 4.
