A driver who caused a two-vehicle accident that resulted in seven injured patients in 2015 has been found guilty of felony serious injury by motor vehicle in Randolph County Superior Court.

On May 9, 2015, seven individuals, including at least three children, were transported to Randolph Hospital as a result of a head-on collision that occurred on U.S. 220 Business, south of the Asheboro city limits.

According to a report provided by the NC Highway Patrol shortly after the 2015 crash, Araceli Contreras Martinez, who is now 30, of Asheboro, was traveling south in a 1998 Ford van and crossed the center line.

The van struck a northbound 2009 Hyundai passenger vehicle driven by Marion Richard Charles of Asheboro. The head-on impact caused the van to come to a stop on the edge of the northbound lane. The car went off the west shoulder of the southbound lane; its two occupants had to be freed by emergency personnel. Both vehicles were traveling the posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour.

Over four years later, Martinez appeared in Randolph County Superior Court in December of 2019 and was found guilty of felony serious injury by motor vehicle.

Martinez was sentenced to 20-33 months suspended sentence in the Department of Adult Corrections, 24 months supervised probation and is to serve an eight-month active/split sentence in the Randolph County Jail. Martinez is also not to operate a motor vehicle until properly licensed and must obtain substance abuse assessment through Treatment Accountability for a Safer Community.