FALMOUTH – The driver who caused a seven-vehicle crash on I-295 last week was identified Thursday as the president of a pharmaceutical company who also plays a role in several charitable causes in the southern part of the state.

Police said 63-year-old Victoria E. Miele of 157 Foreside Road in Falmouth made an illegal U-turn that led to the pile-up that injured five people on Dec. 7. Police said Miele left the scene of the wreck that closed a section of the highway for several hours.

She has not been charged. Attempts to reach Miele at her office and home were not successful Thursday night.

Maine State Police said their investigation Wednesday and Thursday pointed them conclusively to Miele as the driver of the car that caused the wreck. They are forwarding their findings to the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Miele, president of New Gloucester-based PharmX Inc. and a founder of the Cancer Community Center in South Portland, has a driving record that shows more than a half dozen convictions for speeding since 1996.

She was also involved in two crashes, including one that injured two in 2004, according to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles records.

According to police reports, Miele was the cause of both of those crashes. In one, she turned her car into another on Marginal Way in Portland, leaving the driver of the second car with an injured thumb, according to the police reports. A year earlier, in 2003, she rear-ended a car in Portland while driving down the I-295 off-ramp.

But it was the more recent and much larger wreck that caused speculation across the state about who was driving the vehicle that caused the chain-reaction crash in Falmouth. The identity of the driver has been the subject of debate on Internet blogs, in bars and coffee shops over the past week.

Police said Miele was driving in rush-hour traffic on I-295 last Thursday when she made a sudden and illegal U-turn north of the Bucknam Road exit. They said she continued driving even as six cars and a tractor trailer crashed behind her.

Witnesses took down the license plate number of the Cadillac that caused the wreck and police later traced the car to Miele. While police learned quickly that it was her car involved in the wreck, they did not conclusively determine until Thursday that Miele had been driving.

She could be charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving personal injury and other infractions. Police said her name and driving stats will be included when they submit it to the D.A.’s Office. That will likely happen next week, according to Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Miele is president, chief executive officer and director of Pharmx Inc., a biotechnology company that specializes in animal health. Her husband, Patrick, is the director of that company. She also founded Northeast Telecommunications Group Inc. in Westbrook in 1991.

According to Miele’s listing on the PharmX Web site, she is also directly or indirectly active in a slew of organizations related to the health field and a number of charitable groups.

Miele is a former trustee with the University of New England; a member of the Professional Consultation Committee at Maine Medical Center; a member of the boards of directors of the Protestant Hospital Ministry and the Bowdoin International Music Festival; and has recently completed a tenure on the board of directors of the Cancer Community Center, a group which has been successful in bringing a full-time cancer support center to the Portland area.

As a result of the crash last week, five people were taken to hospitals for ailments including dizziness, neck pain and back pain. The collision blocked the northbound lane of I-295 and brought commuter traffic to a halt.

Police said Miele turned left from a passing lane and onto a paved strip that connects to the southbound lanes of I-295 when she caused the crash. The paved area between northbound and southbound lanes is marked with signs advising against U-turns.

Two cars involved in the crash were totaled.