DUI Suspect Has Visitor From MADD

By JOSH POLTILOVEand SAMARA SODOS The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 24, 2007

TAMPA - The cofounder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving's Hillsborough County chapter had never driven to a jail before to meet with a drunken driving offender. But she felt compelled to speak with Kelly Jean Moffitt on Wednesday.

Monday night, Moffitt was charged in her eighth DUI arrest. Moffitt, 29, was pulled over by Tampa police less than 10 minutes after leaving a panel where offenders are required to listen to victims tell how people driving under the influence have affected their lives.

Linda Unfried, who co-founded the MADD chapter 23 years ago, expressed outrage after learning Moffitt was arrested soon after leaving the panel. She visited Moffitt at Falkenburg Road Jail on Wednesday morning, questioning why she drove drunk and why she cried during Unfried's speech at the panel.

"She said, 'I cried because I feel your pain. And I'm the kind of person that caused you that pain. I'm a sick person. I'm an alcoholic,'" Unfried said.

Moffitt has been convicted of driving under the influence at least five times. Another charge was dropped, and the disposition of a case from Pennsylvania is unknown.

Her seventh DUI arrest occurred in June in Orange County.

Moffitt pleaded no contest in that case and was adjudicated guilty. She was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and DUI school. She had her license revoked for a year and was not to possess or consume alcohol.

A judge sentenced her to probation in that case because the county's records only showed two of the prior convictions, according to Orange County court records.

The assistant state attorney who filed charges is no longer with the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office, said Danielle Tavernier, the office's spokeswoman.

"The attorney that charged the case charged it as he saw appropriate with whatever evidence that he had," she said.

Ninth Judicial Circuit Judge Alicia L. Latimore, who oversaw that case, did not respond to messages Wednesday.

When a Tampa judge learned Tuesday how many times Moffitt had been arrested for DUI, he decided she should be held without bail. He called her a danger to the community.

No Alcohol For 17 Hours

Moffitt of 809 Normandy Trace Road in Tampa told Unfried on Wednesday that she had a drinking problem but was not drunk when Tampa police pulled her over at 8:39 p.m. Monday. She said she had not touched alcohol since 3:30 a.m.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office traffic homicide Cpl. Michael Cherup said it's possible but not probable that someone who had nothing to drink for that long still could be legally drunk.

Moffitt had slurred speech and glassy eyes when she was pulled over by police for not having her headlights on, according to an arrest report.

Moffitt also was charged Monday with giving a false name to a law enforcement officer, driving with a revoked license and refusal to submit to blood alcohol testing.

She declined to be interviewed Wednesday. Lawyer Daniel Fernandez, who has represented her in the past, had not been retained by Moffitt, but he advised her Wednesday not to speak to the media.

"She's physically and emotionally ill," he said. "I don't think it would be a wise thing for her to sit and talk about it."

Efforts to reach Moffitt's family were unsuccessful.

The vehicle Moffitt drove during the incident was a 2006 Toyota registered to Mark Tearney, 39, of Belleair Beach. Tearney's mother, Donna Lacey, said her son is friends with Moffitt but that she did not know details of the DUI arrest. Tearney did not respond to a phone message Wednesday.

Unfried said Moffitt told her she had borrowed the vehicle from her boyfriend so she could attend the mandatory panel.

During Moffitt's January 2001 DUI case in Hillsborough County, Carol Moffitt said her daughter had problems with alcohol since high school.

"She has a potential of being a productive citizen with the help of her family," Carol Moffitt told Judge Rex Barbas. "I think that we could see that person come out. She has never been in any alcohol treatment program before, and I think that would really benefit her. I really do."

Struggling To Deal With Heartache

In December 2001, Kelly Moffitt told Barbas she had been through an alcohol treatment program and was planning to turn her life around.

The treatment had changed her outlook on life, Moffitt said.

"I realized that I was smiling," she told the judge. "I was laughing for the first time in a really, really long time. I was actually feeling what it was like to be proud of myself and be happy and not have to fake it. … I know that God had faith in me and took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself; but now that I know better, I feel it's my responsibility to take care of myself and make sure I don't put other people's lives in danger again."

Moffitt's brother Eddie died of cancer in 2004. Jason Byram, listed as a friend on her MySpace page, said Moffitt has had trouble dealing with her brother's death.

Sometimes, Byram said, Moffitt stops being a bubbly person and becomes someone who "wants to crawl into a cave and hide from the world."

"I don't think what she did was right," he said of her arrest. "On the other hand, maybe drinking, in her world, is the only way to make pain go away. But why she got in a car is beyond me."

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com. News Channel 8 reporter Samara Sodos can be reached at (813) 314-5379 or slsodos@wfla.com.