A 23-year-old Temecula woman who was under the influence of prescription medication when she killed another motorist in a head-on Pauma Valley crash earlier this year was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison.
Alyssa Thielemann pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for causing the Jan. 2 crash that killed 43-year-old Winchester resident Paula Napoli. She also admitted an allegation of inflicting great bodily injury.
At a hearing earlier this year, Deputy District Attorney David Uyar said Thielemann “had a number of various, prescription medications in her system,” which impaired her ability to operate a vehicle.
According to the California Highway Patrol, Thielemann tried to pass other vehicles on state Route 76 that night, then crashed her car head-on into Napoli’s oncoming 2002 Infiniti Q35 just east of Adams Drive.
Napoli died while being transported to a hospital. Her 44-year-old passenger was hospitalized for her injuries.
Thielemann was hospitalized with moderate injuries, then booked into county jail a few days after the crash.
— City News Service
