Fredrick Earhart pleads guilty in hit and run [Video]

Johannes Francis Smolders was described in court as a man who loved his family and his community.

However, on Oct. 11, 2021, his life tragically came to an end when he was struck and killed while out on a bike ride west of London.

When Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers arrived, they found his helmet and bike in one spot along Calvert Drive just outside of Strathroy and his body was located in a ditch.

The court heard the driver of the Dodge Dakota, which struck Smolders and took off, was Fredrick Earhart, 53 of Brooke-Alvinston. After months of legal wrangling, Earhart pleaded guilty to hit and run.

Eleven victim impact statements were submitted into court during the proceedings with the most emotional coming from the wife of the 45-year-old Smolders.

Sonia Freiter told the court how the crash has traumatized her two children, “My son not only lost his father but …