WAUSAU — A 34-year-old Athens man accused of his fifth drunken driving charge told police he drank “about half a bottle of vodka” before he was pulled over this week in Wausau.
Jared Kreft is facing misdemeanor charges of driving with a revoked license and failing to install an ignition interlock device along with the felony drunken driving charge. He appeared Monday in Marathon County Circuit Court, where a judge ordered him held on a $1,000 cash bond.
Court records show Kreft was most recently convicted of drunken driving just nine months ago, in March 2017. Kreft did not have a valid license and did not have a court-ordered ignition interlock system in the vehicle he was driving when he was arrested early Monday, police said.
According to the criminal complaint:
A Wausau Police officer pulled Kreft over for driving without his headlights on at about 12:45 a.m. on Grand Avenue. Kreft pulled over a few blocks later and admitted he had been drinking at a local bar. Kreft told the officer he had intended to stay overnight at a hotel, but a credit card he was using was declined, so he intended to drive back to Athens.
A preliminary breath test showed Kreft was driving with a preliminary blood alcohol concentration of 0.162 percent, more than eight times the 0.02 percent limit imposed on him due to his prior convictions.
A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 27.
