A Temperance man pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges arising from a July 30 hit-skip crash on Alexis Road that killed a bicyclist.
Kenneth Pegler, 56, remained free on bond after his pleas before Judge Dean Mandros in Lucas County Common Pleas Court but faces mandatory prison time at sentencing, which Judge Mandros scheduled for April 28.
Nicholas Reinhart, 30, was killed in the wee-hours crash in the 200 block of East Alexis Road in which Pegler’s white Dodge Ram pickup truck dragged him for about 40 feet before he was left in the roadway.
Pegler, who then fled the scene, also pleaded guilty Monday morning to failure to stop after an accident and tampering with evidence, both third-degree felonies, and operating a vehicle while impaired, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Alternative counts of the homicide and failure-to-stop charges are to be dismissed at sentencing.
Deanna Reinhart, the victim’s mother, said outside the courtroom she will ask the court to send Pegler to prison for the maximum 14 to 18 years he faces if the judge sentences the three felony counts consecutively.
The second-degree homicide conviction has a mandatory minimum of two years and also is subject to being lengthened by up to 50 percent at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections if Pegler misbehaves in prison.
“He is a repeat offender. He should be receiving the maximum for everything,” Ms. Reinhart said. “That’s all I can do, is beg for justice with the maximum. No sentence will bring Nick back.”
Pegler also faces a lifetime driver’s license suspension.
Pegler had several prior drunken-driving convictions on Alexis Road and has charges pending in Michigan for a nighttime crash into a house in 2023 that injured two occupants. A pretrial hearing in the Michigan case is scheduled for Friday in Monroe County Circuit Court.
“We’ve actually spoken with those victims as well,” Ms. Reinhart said, and members of the Reinhart family are likely to attend the proceeding Friday.
The guilty pleas Monday meant prosecutors had no occasion to recite details from the fatal-crash investigation. But during a bond hearing weeks after the crash, an investigating officer said Toledo police had multiple witnesses to and video recordings of the crash. Police also received as many as 15 to 20 tips to the Crime Stopper line.
The crash occurred early on a Tuesday morning, and Pegler turned himself in early the following Monday after initial charges were filed on the Saturday in between. Judge Mandros briefly increased his bond after prosecutors said he was a flight risk but then reduced it to the original $100,000 set in Toledo Municipal Court, which Pegler posted.
First Published March 17, 2025, 4:03 p.m.
