5th DWI results in prison for Medina man

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 August 2013 at 12:00 am

ALBION A 58-year-old Medina man was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison for driving while intoxicated.

Earl Anderson of 11089 Maple Ridge Rd. has been charged with DWI five times since 1978, with 2005 the most recent case until he was charged Dec. 9 on Dunlap Road in Shelby.

“You’ve had an incredible amount of DWIs in your life,” County Court Judge James Punch told Anderson during his sentencing on Monday. “I have to protect the people of the county from you.”

Anderson also was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine.


In another DWI case, Felix Onofre-Rojas, 61, of 14691 Zig-Zag Rd., Albion, pleaded guilty to DWI on May 4, when he was stopped with a BAC of 0.21 percent. Onofre-Rojas has a prior DWI on June 24, 2008 in Hamlin.

He could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison on Oct. 28.

Onofre-Rojas also faces several drug charges for the sale and distribution of cocaine in the Albion area. He could be sentenced to up to 5.5 years in state prison, time that would run concurrent with the DWI offense.

Onofre-Rojas was prepared to plead guilty to the drug charges on Monday, but he disagreed with District Attorney Joe Cardone’s time frame of when the crimes occurred. Cardone said the crimes occurred February 2013, but Onofre-Rojas refuted that in court. Onofre-Rojas acknowledged he sold the drugs, but he told Judge Punch it wasn’t in February.

Cardone said Onofre-Rojas sold cocaine “repeatedly.” Cardone and Onofre-Rojas will discuss the plea in an upcoming court date, when Cardone checks with staff and law enforcement about the time frame of the crimes.

Onofre-Rojas was arrested on June 20 and charged with two counts of a criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, four counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree.


In another case in county court on Monday, two Jamaican nationals were arraigned on charges of first-degree criminal possession of marijuana. Calvin Bennett, 37, of the Bronx and Roderick Johnson, 29, of Rochester were stopped by law enforcement in February in Clarendon. They allegedly possessed 450 pounds of marijuana.