Ambrozuk sentencing set for today

Man convicted last month in 1982 drowning death of girlfriend

By NANCY KIMBALL

The Daily Inter Lake

Jaroslaw "Jerry" Ambrozuk, the man convicted last month in the death of Dianne Babcock in a plane crash more than 24 years ago in Little Bitterroot Lake, will be sentenced today.

He appears before District Judge Stewart Stadler at 1 p.m. in the Flathead County Courthouse.

On Feb. 1, Ambrozuk changed his innocent plea to "no contest" on a negligent homicide charge, not admitting guilt but conceding that he probably would be convicted at trial.

A plea agreement between Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan and Ambrozuk's attorney, Pat Sherlock, recommended a prison sentence of as long as 10 years and a fine of as much as $50,000.

Corrigan plans to recommend 10 years' probation.

He said last week that Babcock's family expects to attend the sentencing hearing, but he does not know whether any of them will testify.

Ambrozuk was 19 and Babcock was 18 in 1982, when the two flew from Canada to Montana. They had rented a plane, which Ambrozuk piloted.

He testified at a bond hearing in October that they had planned to elope and run away, but nobody knew they had planned to put down the plane in the lake and disappear into the United States. Area officials pulled the plane from 244 feet of water and found Babcock's body still inside, strapped to the passenger seat.

They searched for the plane because, days after the crash, Ambrozuk called a friend in Canada and told him Babcock had been unable to get out before the plane sank. He told his friend the plane was still in the lake.

Ambrozuk vanished without contacting authorities.

After 24 years as a fugitive, he was arrested Aug. 30, 2006, in Plano, Texas, after Dupont received a tip about his whereabouts. Ambrozuk said he had gone to New York immediately after the crash, then moved to Texas, changed his name, earned a college degree and prospered at a software-development company he started.

Corrigan agreed to drop additional felony charges for the airplane theft and criminal mischief.