Maine Teacher Gets Hand Slap for Criminal OUI

(Belfast, Maine) A 27-year-old social studies teacher at Mount View High School, Katelyn Ross, pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal operating under the influence.

As a result, Ross was sentenced to spend 72 hours in the state’s alternative sentencing program. According to Waldo County Deputy District Attorney Eric Walker,

Ross had a blood alcohol level of .16 percent, or twice the legal limit, when she got into a single-vehicle accident on Sept. 14 on the North Searsport Road in Frankfort. She snapped a telephone pole in half in the accident, which was reported to police by her Onstar navigation system, he said.

The alternative sentencing program is designed for first-time, nonviolent offenders who have never served any time in jail, Walker said.

Ross will carry out her sentence in May 2014.