norristown >> Continuing their effort to crack down on drunken drivers who skip scheduled court appearances or violate their sentences, deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department went knocking on doors early Tuesday, March 10.
“It’s our job to bring them in and get them before a judge. Unless they want to see a Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputy knocking on their door…they should get in here and fulfill their obligations…or else we’re going to come for them,” said county Sheriff Russell Bono as he outlined the results of the warrants division’s latest so-called “DUI Raid.”
“We are prioritizing what we feel are very important issues in Montgomery County. Certainly, the safety of our citizens and of our roads is paramount.”
A team of 12 deputies arrested eight from a list of 34 DUI defendants within five hours, during an overnight raid that began at 1 a.m. Three other alleged offenders surrendered to the sheriff’s department later Tuesday after learning deputies had been knocking at their doors, Bono said.
The deputies served warrants in Boyertown, Pottstown, Collegeville, Royersford, Ambler, Lansdale, Harleysville, Horsham, Hatboro, Norristown and Conshohocken, Bono said.
“There were no incidents. All of them came willingly. They actually tracked one guy down to his job site and took him off the job site and brought him in. It was a good raid,” said Sgt. Joanne Plasterer, supervisor in the sheriff’s warrants division.
All of the defendants had to appear before county Judge Cheryl Austin, who oversees the county’s DUI court, to address their outstanding matters.
It was the second such raid since the sheriff’s department in December teamed with the district attorney’s office and the county’s DUI court to form a task force that makes apprehending DUI defendants who have evaded court hearings, fines and sentences, a high priority.
During December’s raid, nine DUI offenders who failed to make scheduled court appearances were taken into custody and hauled before a judge.
Bono said the department also is adding a “DUI Most Wanted” list to the sheriff’s department’s web site. The most wanted list includes alleged repeat DUI offenders and those with the most outstanding warrants. The page is modeled after a similar web site effort, implemented previously, that targets alleged domestic relations fugitives.
“This is just another tool in our toolbox. We have been successful with and will continue to use social media postings to seek DUI offenders and to get tips on where these people are hiding,” said Bono, adding four individuals went up on the “DUI Most Wanted” page on Tuesday. “It is always our hope that they would avoid the drama and turn themselves in.”
“We’re going to get tips and we’re going to find them,” Plasterer vowed.
Bono also announced that the task force has partnered with Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Linda Sposato, a victim services specialist for the southeast Pennsylvania region of MADD, praised the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office for their “outstanding” efforts to get DUI offenders off the road.
“DUIs and DUI crashes are one hundred percent preventable,” Sposato said. “We don’t need to go out and find a cure. We just need people to be responsible. I think this is a great effort and I’m very proud to team up with the sheriff’s department.”
Sposato was instrumental in arranging for the department to receive two portable breathalyzer testers, to be donated by the family of Pennsylvania State Trooper Kenton Iwaniec, who was killed by a drunk driver on his way home from his shift at the Avondale Barracks in Chester County in March 2008. Iwaniec’s family has established the Trooper Kenton Iwaniec Memorial Fund, which is dedicated to raising money that helps provide such breathalyzer devices to law enforcement entities.
The devices will be delivered April 24 and deputies will be trained how to use them.
Bono and Sposato said the devices will be useful to test defendants who come to DUI court and who are suspected of being drunk. If tests determine a defendant is drunk, then a judge could immediately take action against a defendant.
“There was an individual who came into DUI court just last week and appeared to be intoxicated,” Bono said.
According to Bono, the following defendants were taken into custody during the raid and had to appear before Judge Austin: Jared Miller, of Pottstown; Jeffrey Weinreich, of Pottstown; Bradley Willman of Boyertown, who authorities alleged has a case dating back to 2008; Anthony Bowling, of Royersford, who was sent straight to the county jail due to an alleged parole violation; Chelsea Clark, of Norristown; Brendan Dwyer, of Lansdale; Clint Hockings of Lansdale; and Darlene Kephart of Harleysville, who authorities alleged has five DUI offenses overall, with three offenses registering a blood alcohol level of 0.21 percent, which is more than the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Three additional defendants turned themselves in to the sheriff’s department after learning about the raid, Bono said. They are: William Welch, of Pottstown, who allegedly failed to appear for his January 23 DUI trial; Sharita Harris, of Norristown, who was taken into custody for alleged failure to pay DUI related fines; and Christopher Abbott, of Collegeville, according to the sheriff’s department.
Four county residents were placed on the DUI Most Wanted list due to the severity of their charges, and are still being sought. According to the sheriff’s department, they are: Gregory Robinson “Focker” Fackler, 34, of Lansdale, who is wanted on two alleged DUI charges and allegedly failed to appear for trial on Feb. 20; Ryan Fryer, 26, of Conshohocken, who is wanted for an alleged second offense DUI charge and a parole violation; Spencer Kinyanjui, 36, of Pottstown, who is wanted on an alleged DUI charge and failure to appear for trial on Jan. 12; and Philip John Saurman, Jr., 27, of Ambler, who faces alleged charges of DUI and possession of marijuana.
