Partying Photos Add Insult To Injury For Hit & Run Victim
DENVER (CBS4)- - The victim of a hit-and-run driver feels betrayed by the driver's early release from jail.
Brandon Mondragon was sentenced to six months of supervised work release in April but he was let go last week after serving just three months for good behavior.
That's actually less time than one of the victims, Tim Albo, spent in the hospital after the October 2010 crime near Coors Field. Albo and a friend were both hurt when they were struck by Mondragon's car at the intersection of 20th and Chestnut. Police found his car 10 days later.
Albo was in a coma for nearly two weeks and has permanent injuries.
Albo's mother Cynthia told CBS4 they only agreed to the sentence after being assured by the district attorney's office that Mondragon would serve the full time.
"I wasn't upset. I was mad as hell," she told CBS4's Tom Mustin.
"He should be still in jail or prison -- wherever he was he should still be doing it," Albo said.
The DA's office admits they made a mistake.
"The current practice at the sheriff's department is that folks who are on work release still do earn good time," Denver DA's spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said. "It did come as surprise to our prosecutor and so we're going to go forward from now on operating on the better information.
"I know that doesn't help the family in this case."
Adding to the hurt the family feels is the behavior Mondragon has demonstrated on social networks Twitter and Facebook since he was released.
"I'm free, I'm free. No more jail," he tweeted.
On Facebook Mondragon posted pictures of him drinking, including a June 7 photo of Mondragon apparently doing jello shots before work.
"It's almost as if he's taunting us with the pictures of him out drinking. There's no regard for what he's done," Cynthia said.
Mondragon said during the court case that he wasn't drinking at the time of the crime and that he didn't know he hit people with his car. He apologized to the the family during his sentencing hearing.
Still, the family feels like the early release is a "another kick in the gut," considering they were unhappy with what they say was a light sentence for Mondragon in the first place.
The Albo family has been working with Colorado lawmakers in an effort to get stricter penalties for hit-and-run drivers. Under Colorado law, a drunk driver who causes serious bodily injury can receive up to 16 years in prison. Hit & run drivers face half that time.
The family wants all drivers in hit & run cases to lose their license and face jail time in extreme cases.
