Man pulled over in Saukville faces sixth-offense drunken driving charge

A 61-year-old man who was pulled over in Saukville last week has been charged in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with sixth-offense drunken driving.

In addition to the felony, Saukville resident Jose L. Salinas De La Cruz is charged with misdemeanor counts of driving after his license was revoked and failing to comply with a court order to install an ignition interlock device on his vehicle.

During a court hearing Tuesday, Ozaukee Circuit Court Judge Steve Cain set bail for Salinas De La Cruz at $25,000 and ordered him to comply with alcohol monitoring if he is released from jail. 

According to a criminal complaint, at 7:50 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, Saukville police officer Tanner Woepse stopped a vehicle driving on East Green Bay Road near North Riverside Drive after checking Wisconsin Department of Transportation records and discovering its registration was expired.

The driver was Salinas De La Cruz, who told Woepse that he knew his vehicle’s registration was expired. 

Woepse noticed Salinas De La Cruz’s eyes were bloodshot, so he asked him if he had been drinking. Salinas De La Cruz said he had not.

Woepse checked Salinas De La Cruz’s record and learned he has been convicted of driving while intoxicated five times, his driver’s license has been revoked due to one of those convictions, he was to have an ignition interlock device installed on his vehicle, which he did not, and he was under a restriction not to drive with an alcohol level of more than .02, the complaint states.

Woepse asked Salinas De La Cruz to get out of the vehicle, and while talking to him the officer noticed his breath smelled of alcohol. When Woepse asked him again if he had consumed alcohol, Salinas De La Cruz said he had been drinking beer at 11 a.m. on the day of his arrest, according to the complaint.

Field sobriety tests led Woepse to believe Salinas De La Cruz was impaired. A preliminary breath test indicated he had an alcohol level of .153 while an Intoximeter breath test administered later at the jail showed he had an alcohol level of .11, the complaint states.

Salinas De La Cruz has been convicted of driving while intoxicated-related offenses five times in California and Wisconsin, most recently in March 2021 in Ozaukee County. According to court records, he pleaded guilty to fifth-offense operating while intoxicated in that case and was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of extended supervision.