A hit-and-run driver who struck and killed a pedestrian on Rolling Acres Road will serve her sentence at a minimum security women’s prison with plenty of activities.
Tara Rene Schiessle, 32, of Lady Lake, has begun serving her three-year sentence at the Gadsden Correctional Facility in Quincy.
The former Lake Centre for Rehab physical therapist assistant pleaded no contest in April to charges of leaving the scene of an accident involving death and leaving the scene of an accident involving serious injury.
The Gadsden facility near Tallahassee houses 1,250 female prisoners. The facility, operated by a company which contracts with the state, offers numerous recreational programs including aerobics, zumba, yoga and spinning classes. There’s even a 5K Running Club. The prison offers “institutional betterment programs,” including art therapy, three levels of Spanish language, Toastmasters and entrepreneurship.
Schiessle originally reported to her insurance company that she’d hit a deer on the night of Sept. 11, 2022. However, an investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol revealed that Schiessle’s silver Jeep Cherokee Sport struck and killed 40-year-old Jamie Weinz as she was walking along Rolling Acres Road, not far from American Legion Post 347. Her male companion was also hit and was airlifted to Ocala Regional Medical Center with serious injuries.
Schiessle’s expected release date is April 23, 2027.
Villager Marilyn Hamilton, who was involved in a 2020 hit-and-run crash that injured two bicyclists but did not involve death, is serving a five-year sentence at the Lowell Correctional Facility near Ocala.