Quakertown man who caused a fatal crash while drag racing is sentenced to jail

Aidan Jarrett asked Ida Lillo’s family for forgiveness on Tuesday for causing her death in a drag-racing crash that prosecutors described as both “shockingly reckless” and entirely preventable.

The 20-year-old said he didn’t expect them to grant it to him. He still doesn’t forgive himself, he said, for his actions on the night of May 17, 2023.

“Your grief is unimaginable and irreversible, and I am deeply sorry for that,” Jarrett said as he awaited sentencing from Montgomery County Court Judge Wendy Rothstein in connection with the crash that killed Lillo and caused serious injuries to her husband, Louis, who died a year later. “The thought that two beautiful souls have left this Earth and it was because of my actions digs a deeper and deeper hole in me every day.”

Moments later, Rothstein sentenced Jarrett to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail, followed by 23 months of probation. Under her ruling, if Jarrett is paroled early, he must serve the remainder of that jail sentence under house arrest.

Jarrett and his friend, Evan Buckman, 20, were driving high-powered sports cars on a stretch of Route 309 in Hatfield Township on the night of the crash, both at twice the speed limit.

For striking the vehicle driven by Lillo’s husband, Jarrett pleaded guilty in June to homicide by vehicle and aggravated assault. The latter charge stemmed from severe injuries Louis Lillo suffered in the crash and that plagued him until his death almost exactly a year later.

Buckman, who was driving alongside Jarrett but was not involved in the crash, took the case to trial in September and was acquitted of the most serious charges he faced and only ordered to pay fines.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Deputy District Attorney Thomas McGoldrick asked Rothstein to run Jarrett’s sentences consecutively for each offense and send him to state prison.

“The defendants in this case consciously decided to race at extreme speeds. It was a thrill ride,” McGoldrick said. “The impact this case has had on the Lillo family is unthinkable.”

But Jarrett’s attorney, Gregory Mitsch, said his client had shown remorse and had matured beyond the reckless, selfish behavior that led to the fatal crash.

“He has guilt, shame ,and remorse,” Mitsch said. “The physical injuries have healed, but the psychological ones have not.”

Rothstein credited Jarrett for taking accountability for his actions, pleading guilty and sparing the Lillos’ loved ones from a trial. But, she said, his action still warranted time in jail.

When officers from Hatfield arrived at the crash scene, they found Jarrett’s Mitsubishi Lancer severely damaged, with its engine on fire, according to prosecutors. The Nissan SUV driven by Louis Lillo had been pushed onto its side and rolled through the intersection of Bethlehem Pike and Bergey Road.

The Mitsubishi had slammed into the Nissan’s passenger-side door as Lillo was making a left turn onto Bergey Road. An airbag sensor taken from the Mitsubishi showed that the car had been traveling at 110 mph at the time of the collision, according to prosecutors.

Witnesses testified at Buckman’s trial in September that Jarrett had passed their cars “like [they] were standing still,” and appeared to be racing Buckman, who followed not long after at a similar speed.

The two were aggressively weaving in and out of traffic moments before the crash.

Lillo was pronounced dead at the scene, having sustained injuries that McGoldrick described as catastrophic, including the near-severing of her right arm, a punctured lung and shattered ribs. Her husband suffered from a collapsed lung and a skull fracture, and was rushed to nearby Grand View Hospital.

He died in April 2024, and while prosecutors said there was no evidence that the crash caused his death, it likely exacerbated existing health conditions .

Ida Lillo’s daughter-in-law Melynda said in a statement read in court that the crash had left their family in “complete and utter turmoil.”

“I don’t want your life destroyed, even if it feels like mine was,” she said to Jarrett. “[Ida] wouldn’t want that. That’s not the type of person she was. I hope you come out of this a better human being.”