A Virginia Beach woman will spend 22 years in prison for killing a man in a 2014 hit-and-run.
Sarah Elizabeth Flanders, 42, formerly of the 300 block of Rutherglen Muse, was sentenced to 35 years in prison with 13 years suspended by Virginia Beach Circuit Court Judge James C. Lewis. She was found guilty of second-degree murder and hit-and-run personal injury or death after a Feb. 9, 2016 trial, according to a Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney news release.
Officials say Flanders hit Richard Pentz with her red Dodge Durango in the parking lot of Plaza Middle School around 5:20 a.m. on Sept. 20, 2014.
The attack came two days after Flanders and Pentz got into an argument on the side of the road. Virginia Beach police officers offered the pair assistance, which they refused before leaving the scene separately.
After Flanders hit Pentz, she left the parking lot. On her way out, she told two Virginia Dominion Power employees that a man was bleeding in the parking lot and looked like he’d been hit by a car. The employees called 911 and provided police with a description of Flanders and her car, the release states.
Pentz was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Flanders’ car was found at a friend’s house. Police linked Flanders to the car through her DNA on the steering wheel and gear shift, as well Pentz’s blood on the driver’s side front bumper of the car.
Flanders has also been convicted of hit-and-run with injury, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, possession of controlled paraphernalia, statutory burglary and petit larceny on different occasions.
Mayfield can be reached at [email protected].
