A Lancaster woman who drove under the influence of crack cocaine, marijuana and alcohol will be on parole for 6 months, after she recently completed a 3-day prison term.
Christine Thomas, 38, pleaded guilty to DUI and four summary traffic violations regarding the April 18 incident.
Lancaster County Judge Jeffery Wright recently ordered a sentence of 3 days to 6 months, in accordance with a plea agreement. Thomas completed the minimum sentence last week and will serve the remainder on parole, documents show.
She also will lose her license for a year, be required to take Impaired Driver classes, and undergo drug-alcohol treatment.
Unfortunately, the number of drug-involved DUI cases is climbing across Pennsylvania. Last year, about 40 percent of the state’s 51,000-plus DUI cases involved drugs.
State police stopped Thomas on Lincoln Highway East (Route 30) when they noticed she was driving that evening without headlights.
Thomas initially stopped in a travel lane of the four-lane highway. She then pulled off the roadway.
During the stop, she admitted to police she had smoked marijuana and crack cocaine about an hour before driving. She said she had “three, five or six” beers.
Testing at a hospital confirmed the presence of those substances in her blood. While at the hospital, she was joking with staff, saying, “I got caught. Do your time. Pay your fine. Own it,” police reported.
State police Trooper Stefanie Trzaska filed charges.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright