TAMPA, Fla. — A former Polk County deputy was found guilty by a jury of DUI manslaughter on Wednesday for driving drunk on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in 2022, which led to the death of two people.
In April 2022, Joshua Roelofs was driving his 2017 Nissan GT-R at an estimated 100mph when he rear-ended a 2005 Kia Sorrento. The crash caused the Kia to roll over and eject all four people inside, police said. Two 44-year-old men died at the scene, and a 36-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were transported with serious injuries.
Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office said Roelofs fled the country in April 2025 to avoid the trial, but authorities found him in hiding and brought him back.
Roelofs will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up to life in prison.
How journalists battle the rise of AI fake news
As News Literacy Week kicks off in partnership with Scripps News, Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska sat down with fact-checkers at PolitiFact to learn how they combat misinformation in the age of AI.
