‘Bachelor’ Chris Soules’ sentencing in fatal crash delayed pending new report

Chris Soules, who was ABC’s “Bachelor” in 2015, got a break Tuesday when the judge who was supposed to sentence him for leaving the scene of a fatal crash instead agreed to wait for a revised pre-sentencing report that does not include victim impact statements.

The 37-year-old farmer faces up to two years behind bars on the reduced charge — downgraded from felony hit-and-run — to which he has pleaded guilty. A new court date has yet to be set.

On April 24, 2017, in Aurora, Iowa, a truck driven by Soules rear-ended a tractor driven by 66-year-old Kenneth Mosher, driving both vehicles into ditches on opposite sides of the road.

Soules called 911 from the scene, identified himself to dispatchers and said he had “rear-ended a guy on a tractor,” who was hurt. He performed CPR on Mosher, according to the Des Moines Register, but he left the scene on foot and was picked up by another vehicle before police arrived, leaving his truck behind. Mosher was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Soules was arrested at his home a few hours after the 8:20 p.m. crash and arraigned on a charge of leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Empty and partially consumed alcoholic beverages that had been purchased shortly before the accident were found in and around his truck, according to documents obtained by the Register.

He was later formally charged with felony hit-and-run, but entered a guilty plea in November 2018 on a reduced aggravated misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of a deadly accident, thereby avoiding a trial.

The Iowa farmer first got involved in Bachelor Nation as a contestant during Andi Dorfman’s “Bachelorette” Season 10, where he finished third. He then became “The Bachelor,” pairing off in that show’s 19th season in an engagement with Whitney Bischoff. They broke up two months after the season ended. He also competed on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” finishing fifth.

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