John Charles Diaz' first arrest for drunken driving - at least the first that records show - was on Nov. 13, 1981 in McHenry County.
He was 21. A year later he would lose his driver's license, never to get it back.
But that didn't stop Diaz, a one-time roofer, from getting behind the wheel or driving under the influence.
Far from it, in fact.
By the age of 36 in 1997, he would have nine more DUI arrests. All resulted in convictions, authorities say.
"I've been prosecuting since 1978 and this is the worst record I've seen for DUI," said William P. Stanton, chief of the misdemeanor division for the McHenry County State's Attorney's office. "All he (Diaz) has been doing since he was 21 is getting one DUI after another, and now he's 39. I would say it's a fully wasted life."
The early details are sketchy. Later police reports paint a picture of Diaz as a driver dangerous to everyone he passed on the road.
On Aug. 15, 1993, Diaz was spotted driving eastbound on Route 20 in Elgin, forcing cars off the road and almost hitting a guard-rail.
Then living in Elgin, Diaz also was ticketed for having open alcohol in his 1993 Chevy truck and driving on a revoked license.
The year 1995 would bring two DUI arrests just three months apart - one in August in Huntley, and the other in November in St. Charles.
The court record from the St. Charles arrest notes Diaz was stopped for "speeding and weaving" in his 1980 Dodge truck. He reportedly failed every sobriety test given, and gave the arresting officer a false name and date of birth.
On a September afternoon in 1997, meanwhile, Diaz was spotted by a Crystal Lake police officer getting out of his car at a grocery store.
The officer wrote that Diaz appeared "disoriented and confused."
A breath test showed he had a 0.31 blood-alcohol content - almost four times the legal driving limit of 0.08, according to reports.
"He hasn't had a license for (eight years), but he just doesn't get it," said a family member. "I just thank God nobody has been hurt."
Secretary of state and McHenry County circuit clerk's office records are incomplete as to the penalties.
They also may be incomplete as to the actual number of DUIs, according to Stanton.
It's unusual to have a conviction for a first-time DUI - as Diaz' records show, he said.
If there was an earlier drunken driving case, supervision could have been given, and the record of it could now be gone.
The files do show Diaz was sentenced to probation and 180 days in jail for the 1987 Crystal Lake DUI.
In 1995, meanwhile, he was indicted by a McHenry County grand jury for aggravated DUI in the Huntley arrest based on his previous convictions.
The Class 4 felony carried a prison term of one to three years.
Diaz received two years in prison, a term that ran concurrent with a conviction in Kane County for the 1993 Elgin DUI arrest.
Illinois Department of Corrections records show Diaz was in Shawnee Correctional Center for just six months in 1996.
Two days after he was discharged from parole on Sept. 12, 1997, Diaz was arrested in Crystal Lake for at least the 10th time for DUI.
A family member who did not want to be identified said Diaz' problem with alcohol began when he was in high school.
Before that, Diaz, the oldest of three siblings, got good grades. He started drinking "just with buddies," she said.
At 19 he was treated at the Parkside center in Libertyville for an alcohol problem.
There was no traumatic event that led Diaz down the road he has taken, the family member said.
His parents live in an upscale home on several wooded and landscaped acres in the Crystal Lake area and continue to help support their son.
The relative thinks alcoholism in the family may have played a role.
"I'm looking at three generations - each of them separated from the one above them, so it doesn't appear to be environment," she said.
The DUI arrests have been "frustrating, embarrassing," the relative said.
"I'm numb," she said. "His sister won't have anything to do with him."
Diaz has been through alcohol treatment three times. His relative isn't optimistic.
"The problem here is you can't reason with him," she said. "He keeps saying, 'I'm going to stop drinking when I want to. I'm not going to stop if somebody tells me to.'"
Court records point to Diaz living in Crystal Lake, Braidwood and Elgin over the years.
In 1998, the then-unemployed Diaz indicated he was living at the Riverside Hotel in McHenry.
Diaz now resides in the McHenry County Jail, charged with residential burglary, aggravated unlawful possession of a vehicle, unlawful use of a credit card and theft.
The car, a 1995 BMW, and credit card belong to his parents. Both reportedly were obtained from the Crystal Lake home when his parents were on a cruise in April.
The family member said Diaz unsuccessfully tried to buy plane tickets to Las Vegas.
He then charged $739 at a Ramada Inn in McHenry, police say.
Diaz, in an orange jail jumpsuit, recently pleaded not guilty to the charges before McHenry County Judge Maureen McIntyre. He is being held on $50,000 bond.
His public defender advised him not to talk about the DUI convictions.
Diaz faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of residential burglary.
The latest court reckoning could provide a sentence far stiffer than that ever received by Diaz for his continuous drunken driving.
Assistant state's attorney Stanton said judges are limited in the sentences they can hand down for such cases.
A misdemeanor DUI carries a maximum fine of $2,500 and year in jail, he said.
"It appears we did everything we could to maximize that (1995 arrest) to a felony," Stanton said.
But what of the 1997 arrest that followed?
Not charged as an aggravated DUI, the conviction resulted in a sentence of 90 days in jail, DUI school, and fines, according to court records.
Stanton said it was the responsibility of the city of Crystal Lake, which prosecuted the case, to notify the state's attorney's office of the criminal background for a possible felony charge.
But prosecutors also are sometimes unwilling to enhance a DUI charge because an offender may deny he or she had any alcohol, and refuse breath or sobriety tests.
"Then we've got nothing," said one McHenry County prosecutor. "These guys quickly learn to beat the system."
Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Howard Parth said he does not know the circumstances of the now 3-year-old case.
But he said typical background checks do not reveal the kind of extensive DUI history repeat offenders like Diaz possess.
The checks provide only a one-year review, he said.
A more comprehensive record can be obtained by requesting a secretary of state's office driving abstract.
"But," Parth said, "you don't run a driving abstract on everybody you give a ticket to."
Doing so would be impractical, Parth said.
Brad Fralick, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, disagrees.
"That should be standard operating procedure for every DUI going through the system," he said. "It's basically putting in a request to the secretary of state and paying $5."
Even the abstracts aren't necessarily a complete picture, though.
Stanton said some DUIs enhanced to felonies wind up on a criminal record, but not on the secretary of state record.
"It happens in Illinois that things don't get reported that are supposed to be reported," he said. "You do the best you can with what you have to work with."
Legislation passed in 1998 that went into effect last year was designed to catch repeat offenders like Diaz.
If Diaz gets another conviction for driving on a revoked license, it will automatically be a Class 2 felony carrying a prison term of 3 to 7 years, Fralick said.
Another DUI conviction would mean 1 to 3 years.
And under the "four strikes and you're out" provision, he could never get his driver's license back.
"So this guy is on borrowed time," Fralick said.
Daily Herald Staff Writer Sean Hamill contributed to this report
John Charles Diaz