TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Woman's 10th DUI Arrest Shocks Law Enforcers

ADVERTISEMENT

By BART PFANKUCH

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: August 26, 2008

  Janet Landrum

MANATEE COUNTY - Sheriff's officials are calling it a local record: An Ellenton woman was jailed Saturday on her 10th drunken-driving arrest.

Ironically, a passenger riding with 41-year-old Janet Landrum told a deputy Landrum was driving at 2:20 a.m. Saturday because the passenger, whom Landrum had just met at a bar, was too drunk to drive.

Landrum, according to federal traffic records, has been arrested for driving under the influence at least nine other times in several states during the past 20 years.

Prior to Saturday's arrest, Landrum was picked up for DUI in Kentucky in 1988, in Tennessee in 1988 and 1993, in Georgia in 1999 and 2001, and in Florida in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005, according to records provided by Manatee sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow.

Records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show another DUI arrest in Florida in October 2002, but that charge was later reduced.

No one has been injured or killed in any of the incidents, according to the records. Along the way, Landrum also has been arrested multiple times on a charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license, a charge she was also arrested on Saturday.

Bristow said the number of DUI arrests is shocking.

"To get caught 10 times, obviously the majority of the time you're driving you're probably impaired, unless you're the luckiest person in the world," he said.

The local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving said Monday that data from the Florida Department of Transportation show about 108,000 motorists in Florida with more than three DUI convictions.

Landrum was pulled over after a veteran Manatee sheriff's traffic enforcement officer reported she was weaving, needlessly tapping her brakes and made a wild lane change in the 4300 block of Cortez Road early Saturday morning.

She failed sobriety tests and had a 0.112 blood-alcohol level, according to a report. Florida law presumes impairment at 0.08.

Bristow said the arresting officer, Deputy Lee Harrington, has made about 75 DUI arrests this year.

It is unclear in the federal records if all of Landrum's arrests led to convictions, but she was convicted of some of the DUI charges, Bristow said.

The records are also vague on punishment. Though it does not appear Landrum served any jail terms or prison time for the arrests, she has served probation.

But this time, she could face up to five years in prison, suggested a defense lawyer who specializes in DUI and criminal traffic cases.

Lawyer David Haenel of Sarasota, a partner in the firm of Finebloom and Haenel, said anything above three prior convictions can lead to a prison term.

A first or second DUI offense is a misdemeanor in Florida as long as no one is hurt or killed, Haenel said, but it becomes a felony if there is a third conviction within 10 years of the second.

A call to Landrum's home was not answered Monday. She told deputies she is an accountant.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT