Austintown trustee pays fine, costs in plea deal
The lawyer was driving a car with plates belonging to the former owner.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Austintown Township Trustee Warren Pritchard has pleaded no contest to a charge of having physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
Pritchard, 49, of Meridian Road, was fined $500 and costs Monday in Columbiana County Municipal Court.
Pritchard, known as "Bo," had a similar case in Columbiana County in 2004.
The former Mahoning County Republican Party chairman said Friday he was not intoxicated on either occasion and does not have a drinking problem.
"No, absolutely not," Pritchard said.
His term on the board of the Mahoning County Alcohol & amp; Drug Addiction Services Board ended June 30, 2005. He said he had served on the board for almost 10 years, the maximum service allowed.
After both charges, Pritchard said, he had been to Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va.
Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Stephen W. Pacheco, who arrested Pritchard earlier this month, said in a report that Pritchard was behind the wheel of a parked but running car at 4:38 a.m. May 19 on the side of U.S. Route 30 in Madison Township. That's a short distance from state Route 11.
The trooper wrote that Pritchard smelled of alcohol and his eyes were red and glassy.
His response
Pritchard said he had not been drinking but had pulled over because he felt sick. He said Friday he had been parked on the side of the road for several hours before the trooper appeared.
A portable breath test showed Pritchard had a 0.115 blood-alcohol content. Ohio's legal limit for being intoxicated is 0.08 blood-alcohol limit.
Pritchard told the trooper he felt ill and could not do a field sobriety test. He was arrested and taken to the patrol post, where he refused to take a Breathalyzer test. He went home in a taxi.
He said his doctor had told him he would never accurately test correctly for blood-alcohol content because of unidentified surgeries. He would not discuss his medical history. "My blood-alcohol limit wasn't anywhere near over the limit," Pritchard said.
Pacheco discovered that while the 1998 Oldsmobile was registered to Pritchard's wife, the plates on it belonged to the car's former owner.
Pritchard reached a plea agreement with Virginia Barborak, an assistant prosecutor. Judge Carol A. Robb gave him a suspended 15-day jail term and placed him on probation for a year. His driver's license was suspended for six months, but he was given driving privileges to and from work by the most direct route.
He was ordered to perform 25 hours of community service, not to use alcohol 24 hours before driving, and was told to get new plates for the car. Pritchard would not discuss how long the vehicle had had the former plates, but he said new ones were already on it.
What happened in 2004
In 2004, a charge of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol was reduced to reckless operation. He plead no contest and was fined $250 and costs. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, with seven suspended. He was to spend the other three days at the Jefferson Behavioral Health Agency and follow any aftercare. He was fined another $20 for a lane violation.
Pritchard said he entered pleas in both cases to avoid having the media writing about it every time he went to court.
Pritchard, an attorney since 1981, has run for several political offices including an Ohio House District seat, Mahoning County commissioner, and Mahoning County Court judge but failed to get elected to any post besides Austintown trustee.
He was elected to a four-year term as trustee in 1993, was appointed in February 2001 to fill an unexpired term, was elected in November of that year to a full four-year term, and was re-elected last November.
Pritchard served as Mahoning County Republican Party chairman from July 1995 to February 1998.
wilkinson@vindy.com
Vindicator political writer David Skolnick contributed to this story.