Man gets jail sentence after third DUI arrest

A Saugus man arrested at least three times in nine months on suspicion of DUI was sentenced Wednesday to 180 days in jail.

Roman Merino, 23, who in May entered a plea of no contest to one misdemeanor count of driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol content, appeared Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court where he was sentenced, said Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Merino was arrested April 3 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol with priors.

He had been arrested twice in January, on Jan. 15 and 20.

His first arrest in January, on suspicion of DUI with priors, was dismissed in court on Aug. 22, Santiago said.

With regards to his second arrest in January, Merino received the same sentence handed down in relation to his fourth arrest.

“On May 24, he pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol content. He was sentenced today to 180 days in jail,” Santiago said.

Merino was also arrested on a misdemeanor charge of being drunk on drugs or alcohol on Jan. 18, according to records maintained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Bureau.

Santiago, however, said he could find no court documents to show the case was pursued in court.