Shattered friends and family of a Creekside High School graduate who died in a horrific 2023 crash unloaded on his killer Friday during an emotional sentencing.
Trenton Stewart, 18, a college football player on summer break from his freshman year at Stetson University, perished after he was hit head on by Ariel Monteagudo, 40.
Monteagudo — who served time for a prior vehicular homicide case in Broward County — was ultimately sentenced to 12 years Friday as part of a controversial plea deal.
“Trenton was literally everything you could have ever dreamed of,” his mother, Mandi Stewart, told the court through tears. “The defendant stole it all. Our lives are altered forever. Our family has received a life sentence of suffering.”
Monteagudo previously pleaded guilty to slamming his Mercedes into Stewart’s Ford Trailblazer on Old St. Augustine Road at 1 a.m. Stewart was working an Uber Eats shift to earn some extra money.
Monteagudo was traveling at 113 mph in a 45-mph zone when he hit the teen’s vehicle, flipping the car and sending it flying 138 feet into a tree.
In addressing the court, Stewart’s mother recited his injuries in graphic detail as his killer listened.
“Imagine if this was your son,” she said.
Stewart was his mother’s only child and the end of her lineage, she told the court.
“I am now a childless mom who will never be given an opportunity to have a family,” she said. “And a mom was all I ever wanted to be in life and now it was taken away from me.”
Stewart’s parents have pilloried the maximum term of 12 years, highlighting that Monteagudo had killed from behind the wheel before and was deserving of a far harsher term.
A father of four, Monteagudo asked the family for forgiveness before his fate was handed down.
In addition to time behind bars, Judge Jeb Branham also permanently revoked his license.
Monteagudo was arrested by federal marshals six months after the incident.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, he has five additional convictions and served prison time for each of them.
The Stewart family has raised tens of thousands of dollars in their son’s name.
“We miss you, T-Man,” his mother said in concluding her statement Friday.
