New Castle Justice Court: Probation Violator

Already sentenced to a year in jail for felony drunk driving in Bedford, Enrique Mendez gets six months for violating probation on a New Castle DWI

By Tom Bartley
November 1, 2010

New Castle Town Justice Douglas M. Kraus sentenced a suspected undocumented immigrant to six months in the county jail Thursday for violating his probation on a previous driving-while-intoxicated conviction.

Enrique Mendez, 39, will serve his sentence while doing a year's confinement for a separate felony DWI conviction stemming from a Bedford case. Mendez—who has given police multiple names, addresses and even dates of birth while compiling at least six alcohol-related highway arrests—is believed to be a native of Guatemala. In addition to the local charges, Mendez is being held in the county jail on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement order.

Mendez had already logged at least five arrests on charges of driving while under the influence of alcohol, including the one that landed him on probation in New Castle, when state police busted him in April on I-684 in Bedford. Mendez told state police at the Somers station that he lived in Mount Kisco and supplied an address, Trooper John Longo said, but he gave a road in Bedford Hills with no address number as his residence when he was brought to Bedford Town Court.

Mendez, who has been held in the county lockup since his arrest in April, stood largely silent, handcuffed and accompanied by an interpreter and his lawyer, during his appearance before Kraus.

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