Driver Using Aliases Gets 7 Years for DUIs : Sentence: Vista judge hands a repeat offender the maximum penalty. The deputy district attorney says that’s still not enough.

A 33-year-old Fallbrook man who used multiple aliases to escape punishment for repeated drunk-driving offenses was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Tuesday.

Vista Superior Court Judge William J. Howatt sentenced Juan Vidal Colin Ortiz to the maximum penalty possible for the nine charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, five charges of driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest and assault with a deadly weapon.

In pressing for the severest punishment, Deputy Dist. Atty. James Valliant told Howatt that “it’s inconceivable to me that any DUI defendant could merit the maximum more than this defendant.”

Ortiz had been convicted on four previous charges of driving under the influence, and then was convicted in February of again driving drunk on five different occasions last year after his license had been suspended, leading to Tuesday’s sentence.

Valliant said outside the courtroom that Ortiz used as many as four aliases to mislead three law enforcement agencies who arrested him on the separate occasions. Ortiz also had three different driver’s licenses on record with the Department of Motor Vehicles, allowing him to elude police, Valliant said.

Ortiz had been arrested five times for drunk driving between May and October, four times alone in September, including back-to-back nights by the same California Highway Patrol officer.

It was not until October, when he tried to run a female motorist off the road with his own car and then charged at a deputy sheriff, that he was arrested and kept in custody long enough for authorities to realize that he was the same man who had been repeatedly arrested.

“This man showed no remorse, he learned nothing from the experience and instead went out and drove under the influence again and again and again and again and again,” Valliant told the judge.

“It would appear that this man is almost beyond any hope of rehabilitation.”

Ortiz’s attorney, Donald Buery, argued that Ortiz was rarely severely impaired by his drinking and that living in the small community of Fallbrook lends itself to being easily picked up by police officers who may have been giving him closer scrutiny than others.

“He lives in a small town and they know him, so they check him out every time they see him,” Buery said after the sentencing.

Buery also said that Ortiz was on no occasion driving uncontrollably or weaving on the road.

Even though Ortiz received the maximum punishment allowed, Valliant was not satisfied, noting that, with time off for good behavior and credit for the time he has spent in jail, Ortiz could be released in about 2 1/2 years.

But members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving were satisfied with the sentence and hailed it as a victory.

“Hopefully, this will send a message out to the community who lull themselves into thinking that they can go out and drink and drive without consequence,” said Cynthia Roark, president of the San Diego County chapter.

“This man was a danger, and we are very fortunate that no one was injured or killed,” Roark said.

Valliant noted that, as of April 17, the sheriff’s procedure for arresting drunk drivers has changed to help prevent instances where a person such as Ortiz can use several identities in drunk-driving cases.

Previously, under a quick-release program designed to ease jail crowding, people arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol would be released from custody in a matter of hours without posting bail or having an arraignment.

Ortiz was released under the program, simply giving a false name each time he was arrested, and never appeared at his assigned court date.

Now, those drivers must either post a bond or wait in jail for a court appearance, giving authorities time to check the background of arrested drivers.