Offender Not Deterred By Time In Local Jail

Gary Lee Berreth, 33, had been booked into jail 16 times before he finally was sentenced on Oct. 31 to a 180-day rider, a boot-camp-like correctional program.

The Post Falls man’s court record dates back seven years to when he was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated.

He spent three days in jail and was sentenced to a mandatory treatment program. He completed the program, but was five months late paying his $373 fine.

A warrant for failure to pay was issued Oct. 24, 1994. In the meantime, Berreth was arrested on another DUI charge and a charge of possession of a controlled substance. Both charges were dismissed by the prosecutor and court.

He was arrested in 1995 on a charge of misdemeanor domestic assault, but that charge later was dropped by the prosecutor’s office.

A 1996 failure to purchase a driver’s license charge was dismissed, but a month later Berreth lost his license for six months for driving without privileges. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but 28 days were suspended. He was fined $72.50, but was a month late paying it.

A week after that arrest he was booked on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and a week after that he was arrested on charges of manufacturing a controlled substance.

These two charges were consolidated in court. He was fined $78.50, paying a month late again, sentenced to another 30 days in jail with 28 days credited for time already served, and given three years probation. When he didn’t appear at a probation meeting on March 19, 1998, a $5,000 warrant was issued. He returned on April 2, 1998.

Berreth’s trouble with the law began again this year when a string of traffic stops led to arrests. In February he was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He showed up one month late for his April 7 arraignment and two months late for his July 10 sentencing. A $5,000 warrant for his arrest was issued on each occasion.

Berreth was arrested again in February on another drug paraphernalia charge. He pleaded guilty to that charge and was fined $373, sentenced to six months in jail with five months, 20 days suspended, and given two years of unsupervised probation.

Again, Berreth failed to pay the fine by the due date and again a warrant was issued for his arrest.

A month after Berreth skipped his April 7 arraignment on charges of possession of a controlled substance, he was pulled over for allegedly failing to stop at a stop sign.

He was driving without privileges and had no insurance. He also was allegedly carrying drug paraphernalia. He was arrested and forced to appear at his arraignment on the previous drug paraphernalia charge.

As a result of those charges, Berreth was sentenced to a determinate penitentiary sentence of one year and an indeterminate sentence of four years. But Berreth’s judge opted to give him the 180-day rider at the Idaho Department of Corrections Center at Cottonwood.

If inmates successfully complete their sentences at Cottonwood, their judge may opt to forego any further prison sentence.

“Berreth spent 30 days in jail back in 1996,” said Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. “Since then, he’s been arrested eight more times. Local jail wasn’t much of a deterrent for him.”

Wolfinger noted Berreth often was on probation when he was arrested and sentenced, but he continued to be released.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

EXPLANATION

Criminal history

Every week, Handle Extra publishes a list of people who were booked into the Kootenai County Jail on felony warrants the previous week.

A few of the people have long histories with the justice system, which are detailed on their rap sheets. Sheriff’s officials complain that such repeat offenders clog the courts and fill the jails.

How can one person be arrested numerous times and still have their freedom? This new Handle Extra feature attempts to explain this by providing details of a typical inmate’s criminal history.