Athletes Drank On Trainer's Pottstown Deck Before Fatal Crash: DA

This story was updated with additional information at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday.

POTTSTOWN, PA — An athletic trainer has been charged after an investigation showed four 18-year-olds were drinking at her house before a fatal crash last August that killed Spring-Ford wrestler Louis Carbajal, according to Montco's DA.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Pottstown Police Chief Mick Markovich announced Tuesday the filing of a complaint against Kelsey Martin, 35, of Pottstown, on charges of Furnishing Liquor to a Minor for her role in the fatal accident in North Coventry Township in Chester County on Aug. 10, 2020. The charge is a misdemeanor.

The D.A. said an investigation following the one-car crash that killed 18-year-old Carbajal in August 2020 and led to Homicide by Vehicle-DUI charges in November 2020 against the driver, Connor Quinn, then 18, found that those two young men along with two others were drinking at Martin's house prior to the crash and that she provided the alcoholic beverages to them.

North Coventry Township Police reported that Quinn had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.176 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Further investigation also found that Martin had provided alcohol to some of the young men on a previous occasion, the report said. Martin knew the men through her job as an athletic trainer at Owen J. Roberts High School where some of them had been athletes, according to the D.A.'s report.

A detailed criminal complaint based on witness reports to police says Martin drank beer with the four young men on the deck of her home in Pottstown when they came by after midnight on Aug. 10, 2020. A photograph of one of the young men, labeled "Wake Up," shows he "appeared to be passed out from drinking on Martin's deck" with a bottle of beer in one hand, the complaint said.

Police said Martin admitted the picture was taken on her deck.

Martin is charged with six counts of Furnishing Liquor to a Minor (M3). A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 12 before Magisterial District Judge Edward Kropp Sr.

The case against Martin will be prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Lauren Marvel, captain of the Pottstown Community Justice Unit.

Carbajal was a 2020 Spring-Ford High School graduate and stand-out wrestler. Carbajal wrestled on the Spring-Ford team in the 195 and 220-pound weight classes, earning a 30-15 record last season. In District 1-AAA North and South East AAA Regional tournaments, he was runner-up in the 195 weight class. Read that story here.

The complaint against Quinn, a recent Owen J. Roberts High School graduate and now 19, alleges he was driving very fast and that he recklessly endangered the lives of his passengers. In addition to the felony of Homicide by Vehicle, he is charged with two counts of Aggravated Assault by Vehicle while DUI.

Also in the car at the time were Benjamin Bulich, then 18, of Spring City, and Daniel Benasutti, then 18, of Pottstown. The young men were friends. Read that story here.

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