24th Offense Sends Drunk Driver to Jail

A man already convicted 23 times of driving while intoxicated has pleaded guilty to yet another drunk-driving charge in Superior Court.

Conrado Madrid Galindo, 64, of San Bernardino, entered the guilty plea Wednesday to one count of driving under the influence and one count of driving without a license. In a separate case, Galindo also pleaded guilty to a charge of carrying a loaded firearm.

Superior Court Judge Frederick Mandabach sentenced Galindo to two years in Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center for Men, a county facility, for all the offenses. He was ordered to surrender today.

In the latest offense, Galindo was arrested Jan. 28 when an officer noticed him driving erratically.

Records show that Galindo has been charged with drunk driving 29 times since 1950 and was convicted in 23 of those cases.

Last month, Arlene Joyce, executive assistant to the president of the Los Angeles chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said Galindo’s case “shows some major cracks in the judicial system that allow a person to go this many times with this many convictions without changing anything.”

MADD was instrumental in the prosecution of Gary Christopher, 38, a hot tub salesman from Encino who was sentenced in Los Angeles Municipal Court last September to nine years and seven months in prison for repeated drunk driving convictions. Christopher has been convicted of the offense 28 times since 1966.