Drunk driver sentenced to 20 years for killing young model

A Costa Mesa man on Friday received a 20-year sentence and four months in prison for killing an Orange Coast College student and model in a drunk-driving crash on Valentine's Day 2010.

Gustavo Adrian Vega, 24, was sentenced in Orange County Superior Court for killing Cara Lee, 20.

Vega had been convicted of murder, felony hit-and-run and felony possession of a controlled substance, cocaine, on June 30, according to court records.

According to prosecutors, Vega was driving drunk on Flower Street heading toward Sunflower Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Feb. 14, 2010, when he sped through a red light and his Toyota Tundra pickup crashed into a Toyota Corolla, killing Lee, who was working as a model.

Vega fled the scene and was later found by Costa Mesa police hiding in a nearby housing complex. He had a blood-alcohol content level of .17 — more than twice the legal limit — according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office.

Lee was an only child and a cancer survivor who beat the disease when she was 17, according to the Daily Pilot.

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-- Lauren Williams, Times Community News

Photo: Cara Lee. Credit: Times Community News