Petaluma Police Track Down DUI Convicts Who Didn't Finish Sentences

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- Several people who were convicted of driving under the influence in Petaluma but never finished the terms of their sentences were caught in a web over the weekend when the Petaluma Police Department Traffic Unit conducted a DUI warrant sweep in the city.

Police say the purpose of the Sunday, Feb. 26 warrant sweep was to contact individuals who have been arrested for DUI and either didn't show up for court appearances or didn't complete the requirements of their sentence. The warrants are often issued when people fail to complete court-mandated DUI educational classes.

Funding for the DUI warrant program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Some of last weekend's warrant service attempts were for people who had been arrested for driving on a suspended license due to a previous DUI and had not paid their fines or completed terms of their court sentence.

Thirty-five warrant attempts were attempted during the operation, plus three DUI probationers were checked at their residences to determine if they were in compliance with the terms of their probation. The probationers checked were all found to be in compliance.

However, four people with outstanding warrants were contacted at various locations and cited for the warrants which were for disobeying a court order. The cited four were: Jack Cameron, a 61-year-old male from Petaluma; Apolinar Lopez-Hernandez, a 49-year-old male from Petaluma; Robert Fairbanks a 72-year-old male from Petaluma; and Miriam Perez-Garcia, a 24-year-old female Rohnert Park resident.

One person with an outstanding warrant, Ramon Lopez, a 50-year-old male from Petaluma, was contacted at his residence, and police say he initially lied to officers about who he was, but confessed to his identity when officers showed him the warrant containing his photo. Lopez was arrested and booked into jail for the no bail warrant for DUI.

Image via Petaluma PD