A former Augusta man has been sentenced to serve 10 years in prison on a manslaughter charge stemming from a 2017 fatal car crash in Dresden.

Patrick Shorey, 26, who has lived in both Augusta and Waterville, was sentenced on May 28 in Lincoln County on charges he had pleaded guilty to in March, including aggravated operating under the influence causing death and injury. Under the 10-year sentence, all but three years were suspended, and he must serve four years of probation after release from prison.

Patrick Shorey

On the main charge, prosecutors recommended a 10-year sentence with all but four years suspended, while Shorey’s attorney sought a sentence with only 18 months served.

At 9:22 a.m., on June 6, 2017, Shorey was driving south on Route 27 in Dresden just north of the Wiscasset town line when he struck a station wagon driven by Carolyn Blouin, of Rockville, Connecticut, head on.

Blouin, 75, died at the scene after suffering blunt-force trauma. Her husband, Charles, then 81, suffered a broken arm, broken ribs, a broken hip and a broken leg.

Shorey, who did not have a driver’s license at the time, was hospitalized after the crash with broken bones and a ruptured spleen. Both methamphetamine and THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana, were found in his blood.

In his own statement provided to the court, Shorey recounted his struggles growing up in an unstable home with a mother who was an addict who eventually introduced him to drugs. He has suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

On the day of the crash, Shorey said he hadn’t had much sleep the night before. A friend was supposed to accompany him to work growing medical marijuana but was detoxing from opiates to drive his car back home. Shorey opted to drive himself. He said he had been on the phone with his boss on the trip but drifted off shortly after that. He woke up to see another car in front of him but had no time to react.

Shorey, who has been living with his younger brother in Skowhegan, said he has joined a church there where he volunteers.

“There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think about the people in that accident, and in a way, that helps drive me to be the best person I can be,” Shorey wrote in his court statement. “I know I can’t take back anything that has happened, no matter how bad I still feel about it, but I sure can make the best out of my life because of it.”

Both his grandmother, who took custody of him as a teenager, and his brother, who has autism, spoke at the hearing.

Shorey’s court file includes a copy of a letter to the editor of the Lincoln County News from Blouin’s daughter and son-in-law and a story that appeared in the same paper detailing the Blouins’ connection to coastal Lincoln County and the times they spent there.

The sentences on the lesser charges will be served concurrently with the manslaughter charge. In addition, his license to drive will be suspended for 10 years, and he will pay more than $2,000 in fines.

The terms of his probation prohibit him from driving, using or possession alcohol or illegal drugs, require him to submit to random searches and tests and undergo treatment for substance abuse. He is also prohibited from having any contact with the Blouin family.

A Lincoln County Grand Jury indicted Shorey in September 2018 on charges of manslaughter, operating under the influence resulting in death, operating under the influence resulting in injury, aggravated driving to endanger, unlawful possession of a scheduled drug and operating a vehicle without a license.

In a separate matter, Shorey was sentenced to three years in prison, with all but six months suspended, and a year of probation at the Capital Judicial Center on a charge of unlawful operation of a methamphetamine lab after pleading guilty to that charge in September 2018. Two other charges, for trafficking and child endangerment, were dropped.