Former Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license in connection with a June 2023 crash, and was sentenced to probation and ordered to apologize to the elderly woman whose home she hit, court records show.
A high-profile case that caused irreparable damage to Lara’s reelection chances last fall — after subsequent revelations that she had been driving without a valid license for a decade, including to and from her high-ranking job at Boston City Hall — wrapped up quietly in West Roxbury Municipal Court on Wednesday.
Lara, 34, avoided jail time after pleading guilty to driving a motor vehicle with a suspended license, and she was found to be responsible for not placing a child under 8 years old and under 58 inches in a car seat, court records show. Her young son was in the car at the time of the crash.
She was sentenced to “administrative probation” and was ordered to write a letter of apology to the involved 84-year-old homeowner, Georgia Kalogerakis, whose house at 803 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain was severely damaged in the crash. The letter is due within 30 days, on Sept. 9, court records show.
“So, in reality she didn’t really suffer any consequences,” Kalogerakis told the Herald, when reached by phone Wednesday night. “I don’t understand how someone can lose control of a car for such a long distance and not be responsible.”
Kalogerakis said the case’s outcome raises questions about whether Lara, who was in office at the time of the crash, was given “special treatment,” due to her position as a city councilor.
“Adults and people in high positions in particular have to be accountable for their actions,” Kalogerakis said. “We’re all accountable for our actions. She used to drive without a license into City Hall and had no conscience about that. I don’t know. It just seems unbelievable.”
A city spokesperson previously stated that Lara drove “regularly” to her job at City Hall, despite records showing that she was without a valid license for a decade.
The court on Wednesday dismissed charges of permitting injury to a child and driving an uninsured motor vehicle, and found that Lara was not responsible for driving an unregistered motor vehicle or failure to wear a seat belt, records show.
Initial charges of speeding and reckless operation had been dismissed by the court last October.
Judge Kathleen E. Coffey this week “continued without a finding” on a negligent operation of a motor vehicle charge, which is somewhat murky in that the defendant may have acknowledged being responsible but was not found guilty.
Lara and her attorney, Carlton Williams, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Suffolk District Attorney’s office referred comment to the Worcester District Attorney’s office, which “handled” the case and did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Lara, who held her seat for two years, and fellow embattled former City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo became the first incumbents to lose a preliminary election in at least four decades last fall. The September 2023 primary was held a little over two months after Lara’s crash.