By Shereen Siewert
A Wausau man was convicted of his seventh drunken driving charge last week in Marathon County Circuit. Court, roughly one month after a crash led to his arrest.
Gregg B. Kandutsch, 62, was arrested after police posted a photo on the department’s Facebook page thanking residents who reported a hit-and-run crash the morning of June 25 on the city’s northwest side. Witnesses reported seeing a man driving a vehicle into a power pole, then fleeing the scene.
Minutes later, police took a call reporting a disabled vehicle in a park with the driver outside, urinating, according to the Facebook post. Based on evidence at the scene, officers connected the two and arrested Kandutsch.
Court records show Kandutsch was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008 after he was convicted of sixth-offense operating while intoxicated. He was also sentenced to nine months in jail consecutive to the prison sentence on charges of criminal damage to property and criminal trespassing, both of which were tied to the same case. He was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution and lost his driver’s license for three years.
Though cases typically take months – even years – to wind through the criminal court system, Kandutsch pleaded no contest to seventh-offense drunken driving on July 26, and Circuit Judge Scott Corbett sentenced him to four years in prison followed by four years of extended supervision. A seventh-offense OWI in Wisconsin carries a mandatory minimum of 3 1/2 years in prison.
In addition to his prison sentence, Kandutsch was ordered to pay a $3,976 fine. His driver’s license is revoked for three years.
