PORTLAND (AP) – A Falmouth woman accused of making an illegal U-turn on Interstate 295 that triggered a seven-car pileup pleaded guilty Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court to a charge of driving to endanger.

Victoria Miele, 64, was fined $1,000 and will lose her license for 180 days. The judge also ordered her to pay more than $32,000 in restitution to owners of vehicles damaged in the Dec. 7 accident just north of the Bucknam Road exit in Falmouth.

Miele used a service vehicle crossover marked “No U-turn” and “Authorized Vehicles Only,” and then drove off while vehicles behind her piled into each other in a chain-reaction collision during the evening rush hour, police said.

Five people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

Her lawyer, Ron Schneider, said his client did not realize that she caused the chain-reaction crash until police arrived at her home.

“The accusation that hurts the most is that she caused this accident and just left and didn’t care, because she’s a deeply caring person and that is the last thing in the world she ever would have done,” Schneider said.

During her court appearance, Miele said she was sorry for making a bad decision while driving. She mistakenly entered I-295 while driving to New Gloucester.

Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson said she considered filing the more serious charge of leaving of the scene of an accident, but the evidence did not support it.

Miele’s driving record over the past 35 years included 20 speeding convictions and seven accidents, and her license was suspended for two weeks in 1999.

She is president of the New Gloucester-based biotechnology company PharmX Inc., a founder of the Cancer Community Center in South Portland, and a member of the University of New England’s board of trustees in 2005-2006.

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