A 70-year-old rural Eveleth, Minn., man has been sentenced to nearly 3½ years in connection with a crash that killed a passenger in his van on a snowy Iron Range highway more than two years ago.

Douglas Lee Anderson, whom authorities said was high on drugs at the time, was sentenced this week in St. Louis County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide .

The crash on Nov. 29, 2021, killed Stanley G. Erkkila, 75, and injured his daughter Sirkka G. Erkkila, 49, both of Eveleth.

With credit for time in jail after his arrest, Anderson is expected to serve slightly more than two years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint and the State Patrol:

The State Patrol said Anderson was northbound on Hwy. 53 about 10 miles south of Eveleth when he lost control of the van. The vehicle reportedly rolled over several times before coming to rest on the southbound side of the highway.

Troopers found Stanley Erkkila strapped in a wheelchair and dead. Anderson and Sirkka Erkkila suffered noncritical injuries.

Anderson said he was traveling 60 mph to 65 mph in the right lane when he moved to the left lane to pass a vehicle and crashed. Witnesses said he had passed them traveling too fast for the wintry conditions.

Anderson appeared intoxicated, and troopers took a blood sample. He denied being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but a state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension analysis of the blood sample indicated Anderson had methamphetamine and amphetamine in his system at the time of the crash.

Court records show that Anderson was convicted four times for drunken driving in Minnesota from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.