POLAND Trustee faces third DUI charge

Robert J. Lidle Jr. has pleaded innocent in the case.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- A township trustee is accused for the third time in six years of getting behind the wheel of his vehicle after having too much to drink.
Robert J. Lidle Jr. has pleaded innocent in Mahoning County Court in Boardman to charges of driving under the influence, failing to yield to a traffic control device and not wearing a seat belt.
Lidle has been convicted of DUI twice in the last six years. He is free on $5,000 bond.
The pickup truck Lidle was driving was released but must be immobilized, according to court documents.
Accusations
Lidle is accused of running a red light at Tiffany Boulevard and U.S. Route 224 around 2:50 a.m. Oct. 26 and was stopped by an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper. A breath test registered at 0.19, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.10.
Neither Lidle nor his lawyer could be reached to comment Wednesday.
A third DUI conviction carries a two-year license suspension, a minimum of 30 days in jail, a minimum $500 fine and mandatory enrollment in an alcohol treatment program.
The vehicle being driven at the time is immobilized and the plates impounded.
Court records show that at the time of his arrest, he was driving with a license suspended for noncompliance. There was also a license suspension from November 2001 to May 2002 for a previous DUI conviction.
Lidle had been stopped in the early morning hours of November 2001 on I-680 in Boardman. Police said he had failed to keep his pickup truck in one lane.
He was charged at that time with DUI, failing to keep his car within marked lanes, disobeying a traffic control device and not wearing a seat belt.
Lidle pleaded no contest in a plea agreement and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, with 177 days suspended; a $250 fine; one year's probation; and a 180-day license suspension.
Court records show Lidle had another DUI conviction in November 1996 in Franklin County.
Lidle began his first four-year term as township trustee in January.
jgoodwin@vindy.com