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Mill Creek man faces third-offense DUI

West Virginia State Police arrested a Mill Creek man this week for driving under the influence of alcohol while his license was revoked for DUI.

Dennis Lemuel Henthorne Jr., 52, of Route 1 Box 29A, was charged with third-offense driving under the influence of alcohol, a felony; third-offense driving revoked for DUI, a felony; and traveling left of center, a misdemeanor, Wednesday night.

According to a criminal complaint The Inter-Mountain obtained from the Elkins detachment of the WVSP, Senior Trooper J.J. Cornelius was patrolling Back Road near Valley Bend at approximately 11:15 p.m. Wednesday when he allegedly saw the Saturn car he happened to be following cross over to the left side of the road. The driver had been attempting to negotiate a turn, the complaint states.

Upon spotting Cornelius, Henthorne, the driver of the Saturn, “abruptly” pulled over on the side of the road and stopped, the trooper said Thursday.

“He stopped before I even lit them up,” Cornelius said, referencing his cruiser lights. After Henthorne stopped, Cornelius activated his emergency lights and approached the vehicle. As Henthorne exited his vehicle, Cornelius allegedly “noted the driver was unsteady” and saw him grasp for the driver’s side door in an effort to balance himself, the complaint alleges.

“(I) could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage as the driver spoke,” Cornelius wrote in the complaint. “The driver (Henthorne) advised he had been drinking.”

After allegedly failing all three field sobriety tests Cornelius administered, Henthorne was placed under arrest and transported to the Tygart Valley Regional Jail, where he remained on a $10,000 bond as of presstime.

Cornelius ran a criminal background check on Henthorne and allegedly discovered he was convicted of first-offense DUI and first-offense driving revoked for DUI on Dec. 17, 2004, and second-offense DUI and second-offense driving revoked for DUI on May 24, 2007, the complaint states.

The penalty for a conviction of third-offense DUI or a conviction of third-offense driving while revoked for DUI is imprisonment for one to three years in the state penitentiary and, in the court’s discretion, a possible fine between $3,000 and $5,000.

Contact Katie Kuba by email at kkuba@theintermountain.com.

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