A Gainesville woman has been charged with vehicular homocide in connection with a 2008 wreck that claimed the life of a Forsyth County man and his unborn daughter.

Amber Patricia Ferguson, 39, was taken in to custody Jan. 4 at her home in Hall County, said Dawson County Sheriff’s Lt. Tony Wooten.

Ferguson has been charged with one count each of second-degree vehicular homicide, improper lane use, driving on the wrong side of the road and driving too fast for conditions.

She was released from the Dawson County Detention Center later that  same day after posting an $852 bond, according to jail records. No  court date has  been set.

All four charges are misdemeanors and carry a maximum sentence of 12  months in jail.

Ferguson’s arrest came nearly 11 months after the wreck, which occurred Feb. 17, 2008, on Hwy. 53 at the Dawson-Forsyth County line.

According to sheriff’s reports, it was raining when Ferguson’s westbound Mitsubishi Montero Sport crossed the centerline and struck an oncoming Buick LeSabre.

The collision killed Christopher Sams, 33, of Forsyth County, and his unborn daughter. Ferguson was not charged in the baby’s death.

John Wilbanks, an assistant district attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, said the only way to charge an offender in the case involving a fetus is to prove alcohol or drugs were a factor.

“The reason it took so long to bring the charges was we were waiting on the state patrol’s ... findings,” Wilbanks said. “And they were waiting on toxicology reports, which just came back negative.”

Ferguson is the second driver facing vehicular homicide charges after fatal traffic wrecks last year in Dawson County.

Wilbanks said his office is still awaiting toxicology reports from a wreck that killed a Cumming woman in April.

Felicia M. Croy, 33, died when her pick-up truck was struck by a log truck that crossed the centerline of Kelly Bridge Road.

The truck driver, 55-year-old Jackie Lee Blackwell of Talking Rock, was charged with vehicular homicide in the first degree, driving on the wrong side of the road, failure to maintain lane, DUI/drugs and driving with a suspended license.

E-mail Michele Hester at michele@dawsonnews.com.