{"id":62097,"date":"2026-02-02T18:56:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=62097"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:56:08","slug":"jury-seated-in-trial-for-former-polk-county-deputy-accused-of-killing-2-in-courtney-campbell-causeway-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/02\/02\/jury-seated-in-trial-for-former-polk-county-deputy-accused-of-killing-2-in-courtney-campbell-causeway-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury seated in trial for former Polk County deputy accused of killing 2 in Courtney Campbell Causeway crash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jury selection began on Monday in the trial for a former Polk County deputy charged with DUI manslaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Joshua Roelofs is accused of crashing into a car on the Courtney Campbell Causeway in 2022 and killing two people inside. The crash happened in the early morning hours of April 13, 2022, when Tampa police said Roelofs was driving about 100 mph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when he rear-ended a Kia Sorrento with four people inside. The SUV overturned, investigators said, killing two 44-year-old men: Kristopher Koroly and Ricky Gongora. A 36-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman also suffered critical injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigators arrested Roelofs the following month on several charges, including two counts each of vehicular homicide and DUI manslaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jury selection in his trial was set to begin in April 2025, but Roelofs was a no-show. The judge issued a warrant for Roelofs’ arrest and revoked his bond, saying he would reassess the case once Roelofs was back in custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former deputy no-shows at DUI manslaughter trial, warrant issued<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tampa Police Department said the U.S. Marshals Task Force provided information on Roelofs’ whereabouts to Colombian authorities on Aug. 11. Detectives arrested him at a hotel in Antioquia, Colombia, according to TPD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colombian authorities flew him back to Florida to face charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roelofs previously worked for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, but wasn’t employed there at the time of the crash. The sheriff’s office previously said he was a PCSO deputy until 2015, when he was arrested for falsifying his time card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roelofs has been in jail since a judge revoked his bond and he was arrested in Colombia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jury selection in his trial began on Monday, and a jury was seated on Monday afternoon. Opening statements in the trial are expected to begin on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the 13th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, Roelofs could face 100 years in prison if he’s convicted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jury selection began on Monday in the trial for a former Polk County deputy charged with DUI manslaughter. Joshua Roelofs is accused of crashing into a car on the Courtney Campbell… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDJcL2pvc2h1YS1yb2Vsb2ZzLTIud2VicD9maXQ9OTMyJTJDNTI0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiSnVyeSBzZWF0ZWQgaW4gdHJpYWwgZm9yIGZvcm1lciBQb2xrIENvdW50eSBkZXB1dHkgYWNjdXNlZCBvZiBraWxsaW5nIDIgaW4gQ291cnRuZXkgQ2FtcGJlbGwgQ2F1c2V3YXkgY3Jhc2giLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.6CdEEJHGzTJKbHUC4X6sdUeb5pK-v_o3kCtOe_KYbFQMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":62098,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/joshua-roelofs-2.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13467],"class_list":["post-62097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-jury-seated-in-trial-for-former-polk-county-deputy-accused-of-killing-2-in-courtney-campbell-causeway-crash"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62099,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62097\/revisions\/62099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}