A Moab teenager was charged this week in connection with a fatal March 5 car accident near Ken’s Lake that claimed the lives of two teens, and seriously injured two others.
Gage Moore, 18, faces two second-degree felony counts of criminal automobile homicide, as well as a second-degree felony charge of sexual abuse of a child, according to a statement from the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office.
He also stands accused of two third-degree felony charges of driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs involving injury to another person; class A misdemeanor lewdness involving a child; class B misdemeanor reckless driving; and unlawful purchase/possession of alcohol by a minor, a class B misdemeanor.
Authorities say that excessive speed and alcohol are believed to be contributing factors in the March 5 accident, which killed 14-year-old Taylor Bryant and 16-year-old Connor Denney of Moab. Seventeen-year-old Daniel McCrary and 14-year-old Tierney DeMille, both of Moab, were seriously injured when a 2003 Subaru Impreza lost control and crashed on the La Sal Mountain Loop Road in northern San Juan County some time before 7:30 a.m. that morning. Moore was also injured in the accident.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said that Moore was booked into the San Juan County Jail on Wednesday, April 26, on a no-bail warrant. He is set to appear in 7th District Juvenile Court on Tuesday, May 2.
In the coming days, the San Juan County Attorney’s Office is expected to consider whether Moore – who was 17 at the time of the accident – will be charged as an adult.
Under the law, he is presumed to be innocent unless or until he is formally convicted.
Gage Moore faces two counts of automobile homicide
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release about the arrest of Gage Moore as the Moab Sun News was going to press on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 26. Additional information about the case will appear in the May 4-10, 2017 edition of the newspaper.
