DUI Arrests, Convictions, and Laws

Rafael Espinoza Moreno, 27, was sentenced to 19 years and 8 months after pleading no contest to charges stemming from the Aug. 14 crash that killed Esmeralda Ramirez of Baldwin Park, prosecutors said.

Ramirez was walking to church with her boyfriend at about 2:30 p.m. when Moreno, who was later found to have a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit, lost control of the 2005 Jeep Laredo he was driving, travelling onto the sidewalk along Baldwin Park Boulevard near Stewart Street and fatally striking Ramirez, Baldwin Park police Lt. David Reynoso said.

Ramirez was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Alcohol and excessive speed were factors in this collision," Reynoso said. "Moreno had never been issued a California driver’s license but had previously received a citation for driving with no license and speeding. Moreno had also been previously deported and was in the country illegally at the time of the crime."

Moreno fled the crash scene and was found hiding about two blocks away, police said.

"It appears Moreno was in the process of telephoning his family members to pick him up so he can elude arrest," Reynoso said.

The crash occurred on Moreno’s birthday.

Carmen Iacullo, 58, a regional operations manager for IDOT who has represented the agency at events about safe driving, pleaded guilty at the DuPage County Courthouse to misdemeanor DUI.

As part of his plea, Iacullo was ordered by Judge Liam Brennan to wear an alcohol-monitoring device on his ankle for six months.

He also was sentenced to one year of supervision and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and attend a victim-impact panel, Wood Dale city prosecutor Demetri Panoushis said. Iacullo was arrested in Wood Dale on Nov. 20.

According to a statement from IDOT, any recurrence "will result in immediate dismissal."

IDOT said it "takes these issues very seriously. Violations by any of its employees will not be tolerated."

The statement said Iacullo would be reassigned "from operations manager for IDOT’s District 1 to administrative duties with access to state vehicles prohibited." But officials would not define what the new administrative duties would be or elaborate further on the statement.

Iacullo was stopped by Wood Dale police just after midnight for improper lane usage. An officer smelled alcohol on Iacullo’s breath, and Iacullo subsequently failed a field sobriety test, according to police. A Breathalyzer test recorded his blood-alcohol level at .098, which is above the legal limit of .08, according to court records.

Prosecutors say Christopher Roman was both drunk and high this past August when he crashed into a car that was stopped on the shoulder of Interstate 5 in Vancouver.

Terra Pina and Angel Pena were both injured in the crash and they lost their child, Gabriel.

"I just remember saying ‘no’ when I saw him coming," the infant’s mother, Terra Pina, said back in August following the crash. "I looked over at Angel and his seat was almost to the dashboard," she added. "I turned around to see if Gabriel was OK and the whole – the whole rear end of the car was pushed up. I started screaming."

Roman, he had a prior DUI conviction. Back in 2006 he pleaded guilty to drunk driving and spent four days in jail.

Dennis Malavasi, 55, of Huntington Beach has been convicted 13 times of driving under the influence. Malavasi was back behind bars this week after he skipped out on a court-ordered treatment program.

Huntington Beach police arrested Malavasi on warrants issued after he checked himself out of the treatment program and disappeared. Malavasi now faces years in prison for a DUI record that veteran Orange County prosecutors called the worst they could remember. Malavasi is the son of the late Los Angeles Rams coach Ray Malavasi.

After a DUI arrest last summer, a judge gave Malavasi six years in state prison, but agreed to put that sentence on hold if Malavasi would complete a one-year substance abuse treatment program.

Malavasi didn’t make it through more than a few months of the court-ordered treatment program before he checked himself out. A judge issued a warrant for his arrest, which Huntington Beach police served on Tuesday afternoon.

Malavasi was being held without bail in the men’s central jail, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He was scheduled to be arraigned in early January on charges that he violated his probation.

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