SANTA ANA, Calif. (KNX) — A 28-year-old Mission Viejo man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Friday in connection with the death of a Costa Mesa firefighter.
Stephen Taylor Scarpa was convicted in September of second-degree murder in the death of Capt. Mike Kreza, who was bicycling on a Mission Viejo sidewalk when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Scarpa.
Prosecutors alleged Scarpa was “loaded” on various drugs at the time, including methamphetamine, fentanyl, and “undefined downers.”
“He’d been up for days,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Dan Feldman said at trial.
Scarpa reportedly drove off the road and onto the sidewalk after leaving a party in Westminster in November 2018. There, he struck Kreza, putting a hole in the car’s windshield and crushing the victim’s bicycle.
Kreza sustained skull and leg fractures and was taken to an area hospital where “he hung on for two days” before succumbing to injuries and passing away.
"Mike Kreza is not a statistic," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a post-verdict statement. "He was a husband and he was a father to three little girls who had to grow up without him. No child should have to be told that their daddy isn't coming home because of the selfish decision of someone to get behind the wheel while under the influence.”
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