Gillette man jailed for sixth DUI

A Gillette man has given a sentence of up to six years after pleading guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol – with five prior known convictions for the same offense – after crashing his vehicle on I-90.

On February 24, a Crook County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to assist Wyoming Highway Patrol with a one-vehicle crash at milepost 185 of I-90 just after 7 p.m. He reports that the vehicle had driven off the road and struck the guard rail, ending up in the median eastbound.

The deputy reported that he observed a male subject as he was walking across the interstate from the vehicle. He made contact with him and identified him through his ID card as Johnny Antony Gomez.

The deputy reported that he observed Gomez’s eyes to be bloodshot and watery. When asked if he had consumed alcohol, Gomez allegedly stated he had had two beers.

The deputy allegedly observed several beer cans on the passenger side floorboard with multiple crushed empty cans.

The deputy offered to perform a field sobriety test on Gomez, but he allegedly refused to do them and stated, “Just take me to jail, man”.

Gomez agreed to give a breath sample, which returned a 0.119 blood alcohol level. A second breath test at the detention center returned a result of 0.14.

Gomez has one known prior conviction in Rapid City, SD in 2018 and four in Pennington County between 2019 and 2020.

He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol, fourth or subsequent offense, as part of a plea agreement. Judge Stuart S. Healy III sentenced him to between 30 and 72 months in a state penal institution and a $1000 fine.