Aquebogue man pleads guilty to driving under influence of meth, aggravated vehicular homicide in 2013 crash

Robert Beodeker, the Aquebogue man charged in the deaths of two Nassau county men in an accident on the Meadowbrook Parkway in March 2013, has pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of meth amphetamine.

Beodeker, 52, pleaded guilty yesterday in Nassau County Criminal Court and will return to court for sentencing May 18, his attorney, Dana Grossblatt said today. He remains incarcerated on $1 million cash bail

Beodeker was operating a GMC pickup southbound on the Meadowbrook Parkway near the Southern State at 12:37 p.m. on March 5, 2013 when it crashed into a disabled Nissan Maxima as well as two men that were standing near the vehicle, according to a news release issued by state police the day after the accident.

John Elder, 76, of Freeport, and Edward Ross, 65, of North Bellmore, were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Both victims had been traveling inside the Nissan before it became disabled and stopped on the hazard markings of the parkway, according to police.

Beodeker was indicted in April 2013 on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of second degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, driving while ability impaired, possession of a hypodermic instrument, reckless driving and unlicensed operation.

Aggravated vehicular homicide is a class B felony. Under the plea agreement, Beodeker faces a sentence of 4 to 12 years.

Beodeker, who was an associate dean at Suffolk County Community College at the time of the crash, resigned from that post in March 2014 after being suspended without pay immediately following the crash.

Nassau County acting district attorney Madeline Singas issued a statement saying that the victims were innocent men who “were killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and found themselves in the path of a driver impaired by crystal methamphetamine at lunchtime on a clear day. It is also disturbing that the defendant was impaired on his way to work as a college administrator.”