(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. — A Mount Pleasant man with an extensive history of driving without a valid license pleaded guilty last week to another charge of operating after revocation, marking what records indicate is his 33rd conviction for the offense.
Vincent Matthew Schmidt, 31, of Mount Pleasant, entered a no-contest plea on Feb. 25 in Pleasant Prairie Municipal Court to a charge of operating after revocation. The court accepted the plea and found him guilty the same day.
The citation stems from a Jan. 22 traffic stop by the Pleasant Prairie Police Department near Green Bay Road and 104th Street. According to municipal court records, Schmidt was cited for operating a vehicle while his driving privileges were revoked.
Several additional citations issued during the stop were dismissed, including allegations that Schmidt failed to carry auto liability insurance, operated after revocation of registration, and displayed an unauthorized vehicle registration plate.
Court records show Schmidt was ordered to pay a forfeiture of $691 in connection with the operating after revocation conviction.
Operating after revocation is typically issued when a driver continues to operate a vehicle after their license has been revoked by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation due to prior violations or other legal issues. Repeat offenders can face escalating penalties depending on the circumstances of each violation.
The Feb. 25 conviction adds to Schmidt’s lengthy record of similar offenses. According to court records reviewed by Kenosha County Eye, the Mount Pleasant man has accumulated dozens of prior operating-after-revocation convictions over the years, bringing the total to 33.
Despite the repeated convictions, the case was handled in municipal court because the offense was charged as a traffic forfeiture rather than a criminal charge.
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6 Responses
The legislature goes back and forth on this. At one time this was a crime and then they changed the law to make it a civil offense.
Exactly, we have to start getting laws changed back to where you don’t get a gentle tap on the butt for chronic illegal behavior. To protect the public, this guy should have been in jail for a year or two to contemplate his life choices. At the least, we need prosecution for the multitude of laws that he broke. Obviously he was driving without insurance, obviously he was driving without proper registration etc when you have someone giving Society the finger, you need laws to give that person the boot.
There was the 5 year club. A dozen minor violations or for major violations got you a 5 year revocation. If you then got caught driving you did some pretty serious time in the cooler.
Habitual Traffic Offender.
He’s lucky he wasn’t harboring any chickens, otherwise he’d have received a larger fine than he received for his 33rd driving offense.
Nice try at diversion, but the chicken story is elsewhere, and was dealt with correctly.