Lorain councilman Angel Arroyo pleads 'no contest' over March drunken driving arrest

LORAIN — For the second time in two days, outgoing Lorain City Councilman Angel Arroyo stood before a Municipal Court judge Tuesday and pleaded no contest to a charge related to a drunken driving arrest in the past year. Arroyo entered the plea in Lorain Municipal Court to a charge of physical control, a first-degree misdemeanor, which was amended from operating a vehicle under the influence, also a from a first-degree misdemeanor. Visiting Judge John Musson found Arroyo, 37, guilty of the amended charge and sentenced him to 60 days in jail and fined him $500, with 50 days of the jail term suspended on the condition he be on good behavior for two years and continue with his intensive outpatient program. Arroyo also received credit for 10 additional days he won't have to serve in jail because he was in treatment for 35 days, Musson said. However, any additional problems or failure to complete his intensive outpatient program will bring Arroyo back to court and could result in the imposition of a 50-day jail sentence, the judge warned. Arroyo's driver's license also was suspended until Sept. 21, 2020, with work-related driving privileges as long as he is insured to drive, Musson ruled. Misdemeanor charges of OVI refusal, failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead, expired tags/validation sticker and a stop sign violation were dismissed on a motion by the Lorain Prosecutor's Office. By pleading no contest, Arroyo did not admit guilt but did admit to the facts of the complaint. He and his attorney, Anthony Baker, declined comment after the hearing. During the hearing, Baker told the judge his client has worked hard on his sobriety over the past six months and sought evaluation at Psych and Psych and ended up in inpatient recovery treatment at Glenbeigh. "I think alcohol was his way of dealing with his personal issues," Baker said. "I think he's grown. I think he's beyond that." Arroyo plans to continue with treatment and counseling, Baker said. For his part, Arroyo said he wasn't glad about what happened over the last year but was grateful for the last 90 days during which he sought help. He said he dealt with "personal stuff I had to deal with" by drinking and "I went somewhere I didn't want to go, which was Glenbeigh." "I really didn't want to go, but I ended up going to a place where when they said I could go home, I didn't want to go home," Arroyo said. Musson told Arroyo that "in a strange way, this might have been the best thing that happened to you." "You certainly seemed to take it seriously. You're a young man with a lot of promise, a lot of potential and we want to see you optimize that," the judge said. "You've done a lot of good things for the community in the past, and we want you to continue with your efforts and certainly took that into consideration with the sentence." The criminal charges resulted from Arroyo's March 11 arrest by Lorain police following a crash at Pearl Avenue and East 28th Street. At 10:30 p.m. that day, police found Arroyo's car damaged after he apparently ran a stop sign and was struck by another car. He was intoxicated, uncooperative with officers and refused sobriety and breath tests. Arroyo was charged with OVI, failure to maintain assured clear distance ahead, a stop sign violation and having an expired license plate or validation sticker in that case. Arroyo, the city's Democratic 6th Ward Councilman, announced earlier this year that he would not run for another term. On Monday, Arroyo pleaded no contest to operating a vehicle under the influence, a first-degree misdemeanor, in Elyria Municipal Court, was found guilty by Judge Gary Bennett and fined $450. His driver's license also was suspended for one year back to the date of his arrest on Sept. 21. In that case, an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper stopped Arroyo's Ford at Furnace Street and Foster Avenue and found him intoxicated behind the wheel, according to court records. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.