Carpentersville man charged with ninth DUI

A Carpentersville man who has already served two stints in prison for driving drunk was charged with his ninth DUI and ordered held on $200,000 bail Friday.

Alfredo Sanchez, 31, has drunken driving arrests dating back to 2000. If convicted of this latest charge, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Schaumburg police found Sanchez about 6:20 a.m. Friday near Higgins Road and Mall Drive, sitting in his car on the shoulder of the road. Noting Sanchez's bloodshot, glassy eyes, a police officer asked for his driver's license, said Cook County assistant state's attorney David Mennie. Instead, Sanchez handed over his Illinois identification card. As the officer checked the ID, Sanchez took off, driving between 65 and 70 miles per hour down Higgins, ignoring several red lights, Mennie said.

Schaumburg police sent out a description of the vehicle to neighboring departments, and Elk Grove Village police located the car in the 900 block of Estes Court, Mennie said. A preliminary blood alcohol content report indicated .138, said Mennie, nearly twice the legal limit of .08.

Sanchez's background includes misdemeanor DUIs from 2000 and 2002. He was charged with his third DUI, his first felony, in July of 2004 in Kane County, Mennie said. While that case was pending, he picked up his fourth and fifth DUIs in Kane County and a sixth in Cook County, Mennie said.

He was sentenced to four years in prison for the Kane County offenses and two years in prison for the Cook County offense, said Mennie, who was unsure if the sentences were served consecutively.

Prisoners typically serve at least 50 percent of a DUI sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

In January of 2008, Sanchez was charged with his seventh DUI. On bond in June of that year, he was arrested on charges of his eighth DUI, Mennie said. Both charges carry a minimum six-year sentence because of Sanchez's background, according to Mennie. In exchange for pleading guilty to both charges, Sanchez was sentenced to eight and six years respectively.

He was on parole at the time of his arrest Friday, Mennie said.

Sanchez next appears in court on Oct. 13.