A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty yesterday to negligently causing the deaths of three people in a 2004 crash at the Wilson Tunnel as the group was traveling to a wedding rehearsal.

Jonathan Fornua, 22, was driving a rented Chevy Blazer with five passengers, headed toward Honolulu on Likelike Highway on April 16, 2004.

Police said the sport utility vehicle was traveling at high speed when it veered out of control and slammed into a wall at the tunnel entrance. The SUV flipped over and its roof was crushed.

Killed were Joseph Naulu, 13, and Mary Irene Filimoehala, 19, both of Kane'ohe, and Winnie Naulu, 27, of New Zealand.

Fornua pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree negligent homicide. Two other women in the vehicle were injured but negligent injury charges against Fornua were dropped.

Fornua was released by Circuit Judge Gary W.B. Chang on his own recognizance. He will be sentenced in July. Fornua was indicted on the negligent homicide charges on Feb. 20.

In a separate case, a 30-year-old Fairbanks, Alaska, man charged last month in a grand jury indictment with first-degree negligent homicide in connection with the 2005 traffic death of an Army sergeant will be arraigned Monday at Circuit Court.

Armando F. Peters, a former Wahiawa resident, turned himself in to police Monday at the main station for booking at 12:50 p.m. and was released on $50,000 bail.

First-degree negligent homicide involves driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Peters was the alleged driver of a speeding 1998 Honda Accord that rear-ended a 1998 Dodge Dakota pickup truck at 10:40 p.m. on June 16, 2005, on Kamehameha Highway, a quarter-mile north of Leilehua Golf Course Road. The crash killed the pickup truck's driver, Army Sgt. Ethan Ranz, 23, of Fertile, Minn.

Ranz had just returned to Hawai'i from combat duty in Afghanistan and was five days away from being discharged from the Army. The five-year veteran earned a Bronze Star in Afghanistan, serving with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment.

Ranz's pickup was stopped in the far left northbound lane when it was struck by the Accord. The impact forced the truck across the grass median, into the southbound lanes and caused it to flip over, police said. Peters' car crossed the southbound lanes and crashed into a fence.

Peters suffered serious head and hand injuries, police said.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.