More jail time likely for DUI driver

Michael Stephen Beeker caused a car crash that seriously injured an elderly woman

WEST CHESTER » A former business development specialist for a financial services firm who is now in Chester County Prison faces the possibility of many more months behind bars for causing a car crash while he was drunk that left an elderly woman seri- ously injured.

On Monday, defendant Michael Stephen Beeker pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault while driving under the the influence and a separate charge of DUI before Common Pleas Judge Patrick Carmody.

Accompanied by his attorney, Robert J. Donatoni of West Chester, Beeker said little during the brief proceeding at which Car- mody ordered a pre-sentencing investigation to help him understand the facts of the case against Beeker as well as the defendant’s background when he imposes sentence later this year.

Beeker, of Malvern, dressed in a gray business suit and running shoes and wearing shackles and leg irons, was returned to the county prison after the hearing. He has been serving time there since he waived his preliminary hearing in January before magisterial District Judge William Kraut, in anticipation of his eventual sentence.

As described by Deputy District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco, who is prosecuting the case, Beeker’s sentence could range from a low of probation or time served to a high of more than three years in state prison, depending on the choices that Carmody makes concerning the state’s sentencing guidelines in the case.

Ost-Prisco told the judge that in this case, he would be seeking an aggravated sentence of possibly three to six years, based on Beeker’s prior record.

In addition to having been arrested and charged with DUI when Beeker, now 34, was 18, he also received another DUI conviction in 2004. Technically, how-

ever, Carmody pointed out that Beeker’s current arrest counts only as his second offense, since his teenage conviction is longer than 10 years ago.

The charge of aggravated assault while DUI is a second-degree misdemeanor carrying with it a possible maximum sentence of five to 10 years in state prison.

According to court documents and the scenario laid out by Ost-Prisco that Beeker pleaded guilty to, the crash occurred about 4 p.m. on Oct. 3 in the 1300 block of Westtown-Thornton Road in Thornbury. Westtown-East Goshen Officer Andrew M. Lang wrote in a criminal complaint that when he arrived at the scene, he found a female driver of a Mer- cedes-Benz trapped in the front seat of her car, pinned in by the dashboard.

The woman was identified as Alma Steinmetz, 80, of Thornton. She was taken to the Paoli Hospital Trauma Center, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit with multiple fractures of the legs and arms.

Lang also said that the driver of the second car in the crash, later identified as Beeker, was out of his Ford Taurus and walking around, largely unharmed.

A witness to the crash said that he was driving behind the Mercedes, which was traveling south on Westtown-Thornton Road, when the Ford Taurus came around a sharp corner in the opposite direction. The Ford crossed over the center line of the road and collided head-on with the Mercedes.

Lang said that when he approached the Ford driver

The charge of aggravated assault while DUI is a second-degree misdemeanor carrying with it a possible maximum sentence of five to 10 years in state prison.

and asked for his license and registration, he could smell the odor of alcohol on the driver’s breath. Appearing dazed, the driver handed Lang his bank card as identification, but after found his driver’s license identifying himself as Beeker.

Beeker told the officer that he had been at a friend’s house where he had drank “a couple of beers.” He failed three field sobriety tests, and a later sample of his blood found at blood alcohol count (BAC) of 0.21, more than twice the legal limit, Ost-Prisco said.

Beeker, until his arrest, was an employee of the Springleaf Financial Services firm responsible for developing bank branches in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He was described as a “top producer every year” with expertise in business develop- ment, relationship building, and customer service. Donatoni indicated during the proceeding that he had entered a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program after his arrest and before he surrendered to county prison in lieu of bail.

Ost-Prisco said that Steinmetz would appear at the sentencing before Carmody when it is scheduled.