Trucking Wreck Causes Death - Trucking Owner gets Jail Time

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The owner of a trucking firm Tuesday received jail time for his gross negligence in the maintenance of a defective and almost brakeless tractor-trailer rig that went careening around a bend on the Schuylkill Expressway and caused a six-car pileup that took the life of a Fort Washington man in January 2009.

Victor M. Kalinitchii, 41, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in the Montgomery County prison. He will have to serve a five-year probation sentence that will begin after he completes his parole time, according to the sentence imposed by Judge Thomas C. Branca.

Kalinitchii, who was taken out of the courtroom to immediately begin serving his sentence, will also have to perform 250 hours of community service.

Branca, noting that the sentence is in the high end of the standard range, said he hopes that the sentence will send a “strong message” to the trucking community to keep the trucks in good repair and not try and cut corners or they will go to jail.
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“Mr. Kalinitchii is responsible for putting a lethal weapon on the roads in Montgomery County,” said county First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.

The Jan. 23, 2009, crash took the life of 49-year-old David Schreffler, a husband and father of three who was on his way to a business meeting that day.

The other two defendants in the case, the truck driver and the owner of a state inspection center that passed the vehicle even though it did not perform an inspection, will be sentenced later today.