Sean Woulfe, 30, pleaded guilty in July to five counts of reckless homicide in the deadly car accident.
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Will County Judge Daniel Rippy gave Woulfe two years for each of the victims, including the woman's unborn child, which will run concurrently. Saying the case was one of the most difficult he's ever heard, Rippy added that no words could lessen the family's pain.
Prosecutors said Woulfe was driving over 80 miles an hour when he blew a stop sign at Corning Road and Yates Avenue and careened into the family as they drove to vacation bible school. The crash killed a pregnant Lindsey Schmidt along with her sons, 19-month-old Kaleb, 4-year-old Weston, and 6-year-old Owen.
Woulfe has been in custody since deciding to plead guilty after his trial ended in a mistrial last March.
At sentencing, Woulfe took responsibility for the deadly crash, telling the court: "From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry... I know the Schmidt family never plans on forgiving me or not hating me, but I hope they know how sorry I am."
Woulfe's defense attorney George Lenard argued for probation, saying his client is remorseful, is not a criminal and never intended to cause the fatal accident.
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Prosecutors gave the judge a victim's impact statement from the children's paternal grandmother for him to read in private.
Reverend Frank Italiano, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Crete, who had known Lindsey Schmidt almost all of her life, shared a statement from her mother. In it, Tammy Riechers wrote: "After five long years, you have lied and denied everything. What you have done is unforgivable. I won't get them back."
While Woulfe's attorney plans on appealing his sentence, friends say the family of Lindsey Schmidt still has a lot of healing to do.
"It's a tragedy," Italiano said. "It's not like Sean Woulfe meant to do this, was intentional or anything like that. It's a tragedy and what they want is their family back."