A southern New Jersey man who racked up six DWI charges in three months last year has been taken off the road for even more time.
A judge in Cumberland County on Friday revoked the driving privileges of Anderson Sotomayor for 12 years. Sotomayor was banned for driving for 33 years in 2012 by a different judge. He also will serve a year in county jail after pleading guilty to cocaine possession and contempt.
On June 28, 2012, Sotomayor was pulled over and arrested at 7th and Chestnut in Vineland on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. It was the sixth DWI arrest for the Vineland man.
Sotomayor made headlines earlier that year after being arrested for five DWIs in five weeks.
Sotomayor was arrested for drunken driving on April 9, April 11, April 25, May 12 and May 16 in 2012.
In the April 9 incident, police say Sotomayor struck a cop car. On April 11, he allegedly struck a utility pole. On April 25, police say they spotted him swerving in the street and found an empty 40-ounce bottle of beer in his car. On May 12, police say he was spotted driving the wrong way down a one-way street, hitting a curb and driving off the street. Finally, on May 16, Sotomayor allegedly swerved out of his lane and refused to take a breathalyzer test after being pulled over. Police also told NBC10 that Sotomayor admitted to using Oxycodone before that incident.
Sotomayor was also arrested on April 2 when police say he ran a stop sign, collided with a school bus as it unloaded kids and fled the scene of the crash.
Before his fifth DWI, Sotomayor still had his license because he had yet to go to court on any of his previous charges, according to police.
"It’s done on a bail schedule and DWI, normally an offense that lets the person be arrested, be released for a responsible party, vehicle impounded for 12 hours, and then they go to court at a later date," said Vineland Police Captain Tom Ulrich.
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The Press of Atlantic City also reports state Motor Vehicle Commission records show he also had drunken driving convictions in 1989 and 1992.
Sotomayor's case spurred some lawmakers last year to propose legislation toughening drunken driving laws.
