A 37-year-old Butler man was sentenced June 18 to up to 23 months behind bars and ordered to pay almost $50,000 for crashing into a Butler Township house in 2016, according to court documents.

Kurtis S. Wentling pleaded guilty in Butler County Court of Common Pleas June 1 to an accident involving death/injury and recklessly endangering another person, both misdemeanors.

According to police, Wentling crashed into a house on Old Plank Road on May 9, 2016. Butler Township Police responded to the 10:26 p.m. incident and found his SUV crashed into the side of the home.

Wentling's passenger, 20-year-old Caitland Ringler, of Polk, Venango County, suffered injuries and was transported to Butler Memorial Hospital, according to the original police report.

Judge Timothy McCune sentenced Wentling to 11½ to 23 months in jail and ordered him to pay a total of $49,675.97 in restitution split between an insurance company, an individual and to the Victim Compensation fund to pay for damages related to the crash.

Wentling also received credit for time already served.

Butler City Police had been looking for him earlier the day of the crash for allegedly fleeing them in a car during a traffic stop. In that case, Wentling pleaded guilty in August 2019 to careless driving and driving without a license.

According to an earlier Butler Eagle report, the house was shifted off its foundation when Wentling crashed the 2007 Jeep Cherokee he was driving at the time into the house. None of the four people in the house at the time were injured as a result of the crash.

Witnesses alleged to police that they saw Wentling pick up drugs at the scene. He allegedly said he wasn't going back to jail and ran away, leaving behind the car and his injured passenger.

Police followed footprints made by Wentling, eventually tracking him to a nearby shed.

Wentling allegedly told police he had taken a nap earlier in the day and woke up on the street to find Ringler overdosing on heroin and put her in the car to drive her to a hospital.

He was initially charged with felony aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence and misdemeanors of accident involving death/injury, four counts of recklessly endangering another person, accident involving damage attended vehicle, driving under the influence of a controlled substance — first offense, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and summary charges of driving while operating privileges are suspended or revoked and reckless driving.

All charges related to drug use and driving under the influence were dropped in Wentling's plea deal with prosecutors.