Probation for teen after crash kills 3 Council Rock students

HOLLAND, Pa. (WPVI) -- The underage and unlicensed driver behind the wheel of her father's SUV when it crashed last summer in the Poconos, killing three teenagers from Bucks County, has been sentenced to probation.

The girl, who was 15 at the time of the crash, is from New York. Action News is not using her name because she is a juvenile and not charged as an adult.

Along with indefinite probation - which ends at 21 in juvenile cases - she must also perform 300 hours of community service, undergo mental health counseling, and must pay more than $30,000 in restitution.

She'll have to also write apology letters and a 2,000 word essay on why the crime was wrong.

There were a total of six teenagers in the SUV at the time of the crash on Goosepond Road in Paupack Township, Wayne County.

Killed were Ryan Lesher, Shamus Digney, and Cullen Keffer. All three 15-year-olds were set to enter their sophomore year at Council Rock South High School.

"We hope Miss Ware learned a valuable life lesson for all this, and she understands that she hurt a lot of people, created a lot of sadness and misery," Cullen Keffer's father Joe said.

Prosecutors said she took the SUV with the permission of her father, 53-year-old Michael Ware, even though she was not old enough to have a driver's license.

"He needs to be convicted and sentenced to fullest extent of the law," Joe Keffer said.

Michael Ware is charged with involuntary manslaughter.

"This girl is going to be devastated the rest of her life because her father chose to act as a buddy rather than to be a father," her attorney John Stieh said.