WAUPACA COUNTY (NBC 26) — Scott Farmer, the drunk driver sentenced Friday to 37.5 years behind bars for killing four siblings in a wrong-way crash last December, accused the victims' stepfather of running a sex trafficking ring out of his church, according to the Waupaca County District Attorney.
Those comments were made during a recorded jail phone conversation. Waupaca County Judge Raymond Huber, who sentenced Farmer on Friday, called those claims "outrageous" and "offensive to the court."
In that same phone call, Farmer's wife, Jamie, said "God was working through Scott" the day of the crash.
In addition, Scott and Jamie said on the recorded call there should be green card checks of the Gonzalez family members at the door to the courtroom, according to the district attorney.
According to the DA, the Farmers also said members of the Gonzalez family should be deported. Many members of the family hail from Ecuador.
The recording of that phone conversation was not played in the courtroom.
The fatal crash last December took the lives of 25-year-old Daniel Gonzalez, 23-year-old Fabian Gonzalez, 14-year-old Lilian Gonzalez and 9-year-old Daniela Gonzalez.
Farmer was driving the wrong way on Highway 10 with a blood alcohol level of about .35, more than four times the legal limit. This is Farmer's fifth case of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
11 months later, loved ones of the Gonzalez family say the pain has not dwindled.
"A few days went by and I had to go see them at the funeral parlor, which was the most heartbreaking day of my life," Paulina Gonzalez, the mother of the victims, said at the sentencing via a translator. "No one can imagine how I felt seeing all of them lifeless on a cot."
Farmer told the court he wishes it was him who died the day of the crash instead of the children. He said he prays for them every day.
Huber acknowledged Farmer's documented alcoholism is a disease. However, the judge said since Farmer commits crimes by driving when he is not sober, he must put the safety of the public first.
The judge said protection of the public and the gravity of the offenses are the driving factors in his sentencing for the case.
"If somebody would put an end to the life of your children in the same manner, would you forgive them?" Jorge Gonzalez, the family's last surviving sibling, said via Zoom during the sentencing.
"Would you forgive someone who puts an end to the life and the future of a family?" he continued.
"I beg you to judge justly," Kurt Schilling, the victims' stepfather, said prior to the sentencing. "To honor our childrens' lives with a sentence that reflects the taking of our four beautiful children who had such a great future ahead of them."
Farmer's 37.5 year sentence will keep him in prison until he is in his mid-80s. He will also serve a total of 21.5 years of extended supervision after his sentence.
The original version of this story is below.
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The Neenah man who was convicted of killing four siblings in a wrong-way crash while drunk was sentenced to 37.5 years behind bars, which will keep Scott Farmer in prison until he's 85 years old.
A judge handed down Farmer's sentencing in Waupaca County Court on Friday.
In August, Farmer pleaded no contest to five charges in connection to the deadly December 2023 crash. He was found guilty of driving while intoxicated, and four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.
The Gonzalez siblings — 25-year-old Daniel, 23-year-old Fabian, 14-year-old Lilian and 9-year-old Daniela Gonzalez — all died in the crash.
In court Friday, a judge ruled Farmer will serve the OWI charge for 1.5 years behind bars, and 9 years in prison for each homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle charge. Farmer will serve those counts consecutively, totaling 37.5 years in prison.
Farmer will also serve a total of 21.5 years of extended supervision.
