A Portland man involved in a fatal accident last summer on Little Sebago Lake in Windham pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated operating under the influence last Thursday.
Craig Fowler, 34, of 81 Deering Run in Portland, was the driver of a jet ski that collided with a recreational fishing boat at 11:18 p.m. on July 31. Fowler’s passenger, 34-year-old Cheryl Potochniak of North Conway, New Hampshire, was killed instantly in the collision. Fowler now faces three years in prison with a possibility of 12 additional years should he violate any of his probation restrictions.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Norbert, Fowler had marijuana, cocaine, Oxycodone, as well as alcohol in his system immediately following the crash that took the life of the New Hampshire woman, a “good friend” of Fowler’s Norbert reported.
Fowler was awaiting trial in Cumberland County Superior Court for the incident and could have received the maximum of 40 years for manslaughter if found guilty. Instead, Fowler faces three years at Windham Correction Facility and then four years of probation. Fowler could face 12 more years of prison time if he uses or possesses alcohol or drugs, is convicted of any criminal behavior, operates watercraft, an ATV or snowmobile, drives a car or goes to an establishment where alcohol is served during his probation.
“When you’re on the water, it seems open and free, but you have to be careful because boat traffic can be heavy and you’re oftentimes unprotected in a boat or jet ski,” Norbert said. “You have to use extreme caution, which is something that obviously didn’t even cross his mind.”
Maine Game Warden Jason Luce spent over 300 hours investigating the Little Sebago Lake incident interviewing approximately 70 people, many of whom were eyewitnesses to the collision. Luce said it was the most demanding case of his six-and-a-half-year career.
“I think it is probably one of the first manslaughter convictions for an incident involving a water craft in Maine,” Luce said. “And I think he pled simply because he saw the writing on the wall that there was this mountain of evidence and he didn’t want to potentially go to trial and get a longer sentence.”
Fowler is also to pay fines worth over $12,000, a third of which will go to replace the boat that he collided with. The remaining money will cover funeral and cremation costs paid by Potochniak’s family.
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