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Romano pleads guilty to W.Va. DUI
Washington County Sheriff Samuel Romano has pleaded guilty to drunken driving after he was arrested last month while sightseeing in West Virginia.
Romano entered the guilty plea July 9, and Tucker County Magistrate Riley Barb ordered him to pay a $100 fine and $239 in court costs. Romano did not have to serve the 24-hour prison sentence, however, because he received credit for spending more than 14 hours at Tygart Valley Regional Jail immediately following his arrest on June 4.
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A plea hearing was originally scheduled for next week, but Romano called the magistrate's office on July 8 and requested that the process be expedited. Barb said Romano was respectful and "didn't try to buck responsibility" during the plea hearing.
"A lot of times, people will come in and take care of it because they want to get that part over with," Barb said, "and I believe that's what Sheriff Romano wanted."
A Tucker County sheriff's deputy pulled over a black Mercedes-Benz driven by Romano last month on Route 72 near Parsons, W.Va., after receiving reports that he was driving erratically. Romano's blood-alcohol content was 0.231 percent, nearly three times the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle in West Virginia.
Romano, 43, of Canton Township, said in a written statement issued one week after the arrest that he was on a sightseeing trip through West Virginia with his fiancée, Angie. He did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
"I hope he uses it to his advantage," Barb said. "I think he can educate a lot of people. There's no better lesson than experience. People just don't think it will happen to them."
Romano's guilty plea sets in motion the suspension of his license for 90 days in West Virginia, according to Joyce Abbott, manager of driver improvement for the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles. He also must complete either that state's DUI Safety and Treatment classes or Pennsylvania's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program.
Had Romano been arrested after June 8, when a tougher West Virginia drunk driving law was implemented, he would have been required to install an interlock ignition system in his vehicle for nine months to test for sobriety each time the car is started, Abbott said.
The details of the conviction will now be forwarded to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which will decide if a license suspension is warranted here.
