The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office will seek a prison sentence for a 49-year-old Petaluma resident who was arrested on Friday for DUI for the fifth time.
Officer Walter Spiller was conducting surveillance at the house of Charles Cole on the 800 block of Grouse Lane at 5:28 p.m. when he spotted him driving away from his house in a 1990 Cadillac. Spiller stopped Cole, whose blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit, said Sgt. Ken Savano of the Petaluma Police Department.
Cole was arrested for felony DUI, driving on a suspended license and violation of probation. He has a previous felony conviction for DUI stemming from an arrest in 2006.
“He now is in Sonoma County Jail on a no-bail hold, and we will request that he receive a prison sentence,” said Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua.
People receiving four or more DUI convictions in a 10-year period are charged with felonies, and the district attorney’s office requests that they are given one of four sentences: one year in county jail, 16 months in prison, two years in prison or three years in prison.
Cole could face a maximum of three years and eight months in prison due to the recent arrest and the conviction in 2006, Passalacqua said, adding that it is too early to say the exact sentencing his office will seek. Cole, who has not entered in plea, is scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 29.
“We’re always mindful of the tragedy and devastation that impaired drivers cause in our county, and take a hard line to help assure that habitual offenders are sentenced to prison,” Passalacqua said.
The Petaluma Police Department maintains a list of all drivers who have been arrested for DUI. Arrested drivers with multiple convictions and those with the highest-level of blood-alcohol concentration are evaluated for potential risk to public drivers. The drivers determined to be the highest risk to public safety then are targeted for surveillance under the Habitual DUI Driver Stakeout Program.
The stakeout operations are being conducted to prevent the tragedies associated with the potentially violent crime of DUI, Savano said.
Funding for the operations has been provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Since we received the grant in October of 2007, we’ve been doing DUI surveillance operations as often as we can. We have a ‘hot sheet,’ listing the most habitual offenders,” Savano said.
Contact a qualified California DUI Lawyer.
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