Director to retire, faces DUI charges
Michael Lucas, North Montco head since 2002, faces charges from alleged September DUI
TOWAMENCIN » The leader of North Montco Technical Career Center in Towamencin has announced his plans to retire at the end of the year as he faces charges from an alleged DUI incident last month.
Michael Lucas, North Montco’s administrative director for nearly 15 years, will be departing the school at the end of December, as he faces a court date that month.
“Mr. Lucas did announce his retirement effective December 31st, in culmination with North Montco Technical Career Center’s 50th anniversary celebration,” said Suzette McHugh, North Montco’s industry partnership coordinator, when The Reporter contacted North Montco seeking comment from Lucas.
According to Reporter archives, Lucas was hired by the school’s joint operating committee in late 2002 after more than two decades in technical and continuing education in Berks County and since then battled cuts in federal funding while vastly expanding partnerships with local businesses and schools and overseeing multiple renovation and expansion projects at the North Montco campus on Sumneytown Pike.
Court records indicate Lucas, a Bridgeport resident, faces two misdemeanor DUI charges and two summary offenses stemming from a alleged DUI incident on Sept. 17. According to the criminal complaint, just after midnight on that
date, a Towamencin police officer saw a vehicle make a right turn onto Bustard Road from Sumneytown Pike, where a posted sign prohibits such turns.
The officer stopped the vehicle on Bustard Road and contacted the driver, who was identified as Lucas, and the officer said he detected the odor of alcohol and “noticed Lucas had glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech,” according to the compliant. When
two other officers arrived, they asked Lucas if he had been drinking, and he answered he had been drinking that morning and had had vodka to drink; the officers asked him to recite the alphabet, and he could not, according to police.
The officers then asked him to perform field coordination exercises, which he could not, and a portable breath test revealed a .16 percent blood alcohol concentration; lab testing of blood samples later produced a BAC level of .173 percent, according to police. Officers took Lucas into custody and found an
open box of wine and an open bottle of vodka on the floor of the passenger side of his vehicle and a coffee mug containing wine, according to police.
Court records indicate charges were filed against Lucas in early October, including misdemeanor counts of driving with a BAC of .16 percent or greater and general DUI and summary charges of making an illegal turn and alcohol possession.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 14 before District Judge Ed Levine of Lansdale, according to court documents.