Pinal County assessor arrested on suspicion of DUI
Arizona Daily Star
Posted: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 10:39 am
Department Lewis Paul Larkin, the assessor in Pinal County, was arrested Monday on suspicion of DUI soon after he left a bar near Casa Grande, officials say.
The Pinal County Assessor was arrested on suspicion of DUI Monday, after the county received an anonymous complaint claiming impaired driving habits, deputies said.
The anonymous e-mail sent Feb. 4 to the county’s website, said that Lewis Paul Larkin drank at a local bar every night and drove home drunk in his silver Dodge Dakota, said Tim Gaffney, a Pinal County Sheriff’s spokesman.
County officials sent the -email to the sheriff’s office Monday.
Deputies drove by the Kokopelli Moon Saloon and saw a Dodge Dakota pulling out of the parking lot just after 5 p.m., Gaffney said.
Deputies saw the truck weaving on the road on Highway 287 near Christensen Road, in Coolidge, and pulled the driver over, Gaffney said.
Larkin, 67, was driving the truck and smelled heavily of alcohol, Gaffney said. Larkin failed a field sobriety test and blew a blood-alcohol-level of 0.099 on a breathalyzer test, Gaffney said.
Neighbor surprised to hear Pinal County Assessor arrested for DUI
By: Jay Reynolds By: Jay Reynolds
FLORENCE, AZ - A Pinal County elected official has been arrested for DUI after he was caught allegedly driving drunk Monday.
"Do you want to say anything about what happened yesterday?" I asked as I approached Pinal County Assessor Paul Larkin's house in Casa Grande. "No, I do not," replied a woman as she closed the door.
That was the reaction when I went to Larkin's house.
"We did have bad driving, as far as weaving," said Tim Gafney of the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.
On Monday, Larkin was arrested for DUI after leaving the Kokopelli Moon Saloon in Florence.
The Pinal County Sheriff's office told me they got an anonymous tip about Larkin's drinking habits.
"The tip alleged that the county assessor, Paul Larkin, would frequent a bar on a daily basis, Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and then he would get inebriated and drive off," Gafney said.
The sheriff's office said that at 5:26 p.m. a 2008 Dodge Dakota drove out of the Kokopelli Moon Saloon and traveled westbound toward Christensen Road in Coolidge.
The vehicle was stopped by deputies after it was observed weaving and the driver, 67-year-old Lewis Paul Larkin of Casa Grande, reportedly smelled heavily of alcohol and had bloodshot, watery eyes.
Larkin admitted to having three mixed drinks and submitted to field sobriety tests which confirmed he was impaired by alcohol, according to officials.
PCSO said Larkin blew a .099 blood alcohol content (BAC) into a preliminary breath testing device. In Arizona it is a crime to operate a motor vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher.
And while following up Tuesday, I found out it might not be the first time alcohol has caused Larkin problems.
"Back in 2009, there was a citizen complaint that he was in fact driving his county vehicle while intoxicated at which point he had his county vehicle taken away," Gaffney said.
But a neighbor of Larkin tells me, the arrest on Monday comes as a shock.
"I'm real surprised," said Herman Deloney.
It's not the man he knows who lives across the street.
"All I know is that I know him as a good neighbor," Deloney said.
Now, PCSO will wait for the blood test to come back to confirm if Larkin was over the legal limit and his future as the county assessor will depend on voters.
Pinal County Assessor Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI
Anonymous E-mail Tip Led To Arrest
Pat McReynolds
Anchor/Reporter, KPHO CBS 5 News
POSTED: 9:59 am MST February 8, 2011
CASA GRANDE, Ariz. -- Pinal County Assessor Lewis Paul Larkin has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
Pinal County sheriff's deputies said Larkin was observed leaving a bar Monday afternoon and that his vehicle was weaving through traffic.
When they pulled him over, deputies said he smelled heavily of alcohol and had watery, bloodshot eyes. Deputies said Larkin later blew a .099, an illegal amount of alcohol to be in someone's system when behind the wheel.
But deputies said they would not have been in place to observe Larkin if they had not received an anonymous e-mail complaint.
It read: "The Pinal County Assessor frequents the Kokopelli Moon Saloon everyday (Monday - Fri) around 3 p.m. until around 5 p.m. then, inebriated, he gets into his late model silver Dodge Dakota and drives home. Why does the Pinal County Sheriff turn a blind on this?"
Deputies said that at the time of his arrest, Larkin admitted to drinking three vodka and tonics. He also submitted to a blood test, the results of which have not yet been released.
In a statement released by his department, Sheriff Paul Babeu wrote, "Many innocent motorists are killed each year in Arizona as a result of impaired drivers. During the past two years, we have stepped up our impaired driving enforcement and have a zero tolerance approach. If you are driving impaired by alcohol and or drugs in Pinal County you will be arrested no matter who you are.”