KALISPELL, Mont. - A plea agreement has been reached in the case of a Canadian man accused of crashing a rented airplane into a Montana lake in 1982, and leaving his girlfriend to drown.
Jerry Ambrozuk's trial was to start Monday in Kalispell -- but instead the 43-year-old former B.C. man will be sentenced that day by a district judge.
Ambrozuk pleaded guilty to criminal endangerment and criminal mischief -- both felonies -- while prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of theft and will recommend a 20-year suspended sentence.
However, County Attorney Ed Corrigan says Ambrozuk will see prison time because he's also agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge that stems from obtaining a fraudulent passport.
Corrigan says Ambrozuk will end up spending about two years in custody, including time already served.
Prosecutors say he deliberately flew the rental airplane in which Dianne Babcock was a passenger into Little Bitterroot Lake, then left her to drown as he swam away. He disappeared for the next 24 years but was found last year in Plano, Texas.
