Chronic Traffic Scofflaw Going To Jail
JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) -- A 23-year-old man who had been arrested or ticketed more than 20 times since receiving his driver's license — and who continued to drive despite having had his license suspended — has been sentenced to jail.
Andrew E. Piry has begun serving a 30-day sentence in Will County Jail in Joliet, according to Will County Circuit Court records.
Piry, of Joliet, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated driving while license suspended and a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of alcohol, records showed. Both charges stemmed from his arrest last summer on Naperville's far south side, the Naperville Sun is reporting.
He also was convicted of a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating compounds following his May 24, 2012 arrest in Channahon, records indicated.
Judge Amy M. Bertani-Tomczak on Tuesday accepted Piry's pleas, according to records. She sentenced Piry to jail on the suspended license and DUI charges, giving him two days of credit toward that term for the time he spent in jail following his arrest.
Bertani-Tomczak also placed Piry on two years of probation in those matters, records showed. He was also placed on two years of supervision and fined $500 in the Channahon case, records indicated.
A Naperville police patrol officer curbed Piry's vehicle about 2:12 a.m. on July 28, 2012 at Ring Road and Washington Street, near the Old Farm neighborhood.
Piry at the time was driving south on Washington Street near 87th Street, a police spokesman said last summer. "Piry was noted to be driving closely behind the vehicle in front of him," the spokesman said.
The officer stopped the vehicle near Ring Road and "determined Piry was under the influence of alcohol," the spokesman said. It marked Piry's second drunken-driving arrest in two months, following the Channahon case.
An examination of police and court records by The Sun showed Piry since 2006 had been arrested or ticketed more than 20 times by area law enforcement agencies.
Those charges included failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident/driving too fast for conditions, driving without insurance, making an improper turn and speeding. He also had been ticketed twice since 2008 in DuPage County for failure to wear a seat belt and speeding in excess of 25 mph.
Piry settled all of the cases by paying fines, according to records.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
