The woman who police said drove through an art show on the downtown green in Montauk in the overnight hours in June 2025 and was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years of probation in East Hampton Town Justice Court Wednesday.
The Montauk Artists Association Art Show sustained over $100,000 in damages, resulting in six counts of criminal mischief, after Nicoly Ribeiro De Souza, then 23, drove her Nissan Rogue into its tents at 3 a.m. on June 29.
Through tears, Ms. Ribeiro De Souza, of Farmingville, agreed to the terms of probation, a revocation of her license, and the requirement of an interlock device on her car for the misdemeanor drunken-driving charge.
She was required to report to the Suffolk County Probation Department within 72 hours.
For the single count of criminal mischief as part of a plea deal, she agreed to pay a $500 fine.
"I'm really regretful and I learned a lesson," Ms. Ribeiro De Souza said Wednesday outside the courthouse. That June night in 2025, she said she was coming "straight from the Surf Lodge," where she acknowledged she had "a glass of wine and a beer." She maintains that she fell asleep while driving in the moments before the crash.
"That was the worst decision," she said.
Missing from her sentencing was a restitution requirement that Keith O’Brien, a Suffolk County assistant district attorney, said in May would not be requested by his office.
Since then, several artists affected by the crash have come forward saying damage to their kiosks could have been covered by restitution.
Jacqueline Clint, a jewelry maker who said thousands of dollars of her items were destroyed, said in an Instagram post that she was never told she should make a formal request for restitution.
She confirmed by direct messages last month that "we were never approached with that even being an option."
"The driver should be paying for what she damaged," she said in the messages.
Mary Planding, an artist participating in her first art show the day of the accident, had her art stored in the first tent Ms. Ribeiro De Souza hit.
An ocean landscape painter, Ms. Planding said by phone earlier this month that she was "traumatized by the whole thing." She held back tears as she talked about the "years of work destroyed."
In June, East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky said in a court hearing that he had received many letters from the community decrying the decision by the D.A. to forgo restitution. However, at that time, Mr. O'Brien told the court that none of those letters had come from any artists involved in the early-morning crash.
Natasja V. Bellinger, Ms. Ribeiro De Souza's attorney, would not comment on the matter after the court proceedings Wednesday.
