Saukville man charged with 8th-offense DWI

A 56-year-old Saukville man accused of driving recklessly and nearly hitting other vehicles on I-43 during a rain storm earlier this month was charged last week in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with eighth-offense drunken driving.

Robert J. Jones also faces a felony count of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and misdemeanor counts of driving after his license had been revoked, violating a court order to have an ignition interlock device installed on his vehicle and resisting an officer. 

During a Dec. 10 hearing, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain set bail for Jones at $50,000 and ordered him to submit to alcohol monitoring if released from jail.

According to a criminal complaint, at  8 a.m. Friday, Sept. 4, Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy Peter Morton was directed to watch for a vehicle that according to a witness did not have its lights on and was swerving across the southbound lanes of I-43 nearly sideswiping vehicles. 

Morton described the weather conditions at the time as “extremely poor” with heavy rain resulting in low visibility, causing traffic to slow below the 70-mph speed limit. 

Morton eventually spotted the vehicle, a black Toyota minivan, southbound on I-43 in the Town of Port Washington. As he attempted to catch up to it, the deputy saw multiple vehicles brake to avoid being hit by the minivan, which authorities later learned was being driven by Jones. Morton said he also saw Jones deviate from his lane and almost hit other vehicles, the complaint states. 

Morton was in the left lane as he closed in on Jones with another vehicle between him and the minivan. Jones then moved into the right lane without signaling, and when the vehicle in front of the deputy also switched into the right lane, Jones suddenly braked and drifted back into the left lane directly ahead of the deputy. That is when Jones began to accelerate away from Morton, according to the complaint.

Morton had to pass several vehicles before catching up to Jones, who pulled onto the shoulder but continued to drive, albeit at a slower speed.

Jones pulled back onto the freeway to avoid a vehicle that had pulled over, then drove back onto the shoulder and stopped a short distance later near Grafton.

When deputy Steven Henning asked Jones for his driver’s license, Jones said he didn’t have one. The deputy checked Jones records and learned his license had been revoked and he was ordered to have an ignition interlock device installed on his vehicle, which he did not, in connection with a prior driving while intoxicated conviction, the complaint states.

Jones told Henning that he was driving from his place of employment in Sheboygan to his home in Saukville, although the deputy noted that Jones had driven past Saukville.  

Jones was arrested for driving without a license and the lack of an ignition interlock device, and as he was being taken to the Ozaukee County jail, Henning noted he smelled of alcohol, according to the complaint.

Jones was asked to perform field sobriety tests at the jail but refused. A warrant for a sample of his blood was issued and Jones was taken to Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, but at the hospital Jones said, “Nobody is taking my blood,” then told a deputy he was going to kick him in the face, the complaint states.

Jones resisted the deputy’s attempts to control him until another officer arrived and he was restrained using a body wrap.

A sample of Jones’s blood was taken, although authorities have not received the results. Jones is prohibited from having a blood alcohol content of more than .02 because of his prior convictions.

Jones has been convicted of or had his driver’s license revoked for driving while intoxicated-related offenses seven times in four Wisconsin counties between 1991 and 2019.

His latest conviction was in Waukesha County in 2019 when he pleaded guilty to seventh-offense driving while intoxicated and sentenced to four years in prison and four years of extended supervision.

Eighth-offense driving while intoxicated is punishable by a maximum 7-1/2 years in prison and five years of extended supervision.