Long Island driver in street race that killed 5 pleads guilty to gun charge

MINEOLA, Long Island (WABC) -- The Long Island man who got probation and just six months in jail for a street racing crash that killed five teenagers, was sentenced to 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison Tuesday after he was arrested yet again for firing a shotgun in his backyard in Farmindale last month.

Cory Gloe, now 20, pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor weapons charge.

Gloe was arrested in mid-October after he fired a 12-gauge shotgun in the air. No one was injured.

In March, Gloe pleaded guilty to a 17-count indictment in the deadly crash that included five manslaughter charges in exchange for the shorter sentence. He was one of two drivers engaging in a street race in Farmingdale in May 2014, during which the driver and four passengers in the other car died when that vehicle crashed into an oncoming SUV.

Prosecutors said Gloe goaded the other driver into racing, and his plea agreement came despite revelations from prosecutors that he had posted an epithet to police and that he was arrested again while awaiting sentencing.

A judge said at the time that justice would be served by not sending him to prison and that the accident was an error sparked by "juvenile ignorance," but Nassau County Judge Terence Murphy rescinded that ruling on Tuesday.

"I told you the life you lead and the legacy you leave will either respect and memorialize those teenagers or show a cold callous disregard for their lives and memories," Murphy said. "Mr. Gloe, you proved to me who you are."

The families of victims -- 17-year-old Tristan Reichle, 18-year-old Jesse Romero, 14-year-old Carly Lonnborg, 15-year-old Noah Francis and 17-year-old Cody Talanian -- were originally outraged that Gloe was given youthful offender status. Now, they wonder if this is enough.

"Nobody wanted this," said John Lonnborg, whose lost his daughter Carly. "I wanted to see this kid go before schools and talk to children to avoid this happening to any other parent. That's what I wanted."

Murphy said Gloe was about to learn the difference between local jail and state prison.

"Nothing is enough; Our wounds are too deep," Francis' sister, Celeste Tziamihas, said. "I can't look for healing here, and I can't look for justice, even here in the courtroom. It's only in the next life that we'll really find justice...I pray this was enough for us to be able to close this chapter of our lives."

The latest incident also happened in Farmingdale, when officers responded to a call for shots fired on Lyons Avenue at approximately 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. Arriving officers were were informed by the residents that they observed their rear neighbor, Corey Gloe, now 20, firing a 12-gauge shotgun in his yard.

They also informed the officers that earlier in the evening, at approximately 5 p.m., a woman in her yard with her 3-year-old daughter had seen Gloe discharge the shotgun into the air, but did not notify police at that time.