Global Courant
Weeks after a 2014 drunk driving conviction was rejected by the court, Riverside councilor Clarissa Cervantes was arrested again early Saturday on suspicion of drunk driving.
Riverside Sheriff’s Office jail records show that 32-year-old Cervantes was arrested at 1:23 a.m. by California Highway Patrol officers who apprehended her on Interstate 10 in Banning.
Cervantes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This was Cervantes’ second DUI arrest, with the first in September 2014, according to Riverside County Superior Court records obtained by The Times. The previous arrest was first reported by the Press Enterprise.
Court records show that Cervantes paid more than $2,500 in fines for the earlier case, which alleged she had a blood alcohol content of more than 0.15% — nearly twice the legal limit in California — and ended in a 2015 conviction.
At a hearing on the dismissal of that conviction, Cervantes told Judge Timothy J Hollenhorst, “Every day I have remorse and vow never to repeat those actions,” the Press-Enterprise report said.
The judge rejected the conviction on May 19 this year, weeks before she was arrested again. Cervantes has been released and her next court date is August 30, prison records show.
The councilman was involved in a public spat with Sheriff Chad Bianco last year after the sheriff accused her of supporting vandalism of the county courthouse during an abortion rights protest.
Cervantes sued for libel after Bianco posted on Instagram: “Shame on the Riverside City Councilman for supporting the defacement of our courthouse. You’re lucky we couldn’t arrest you.”
Cervantes denied involvement in the protest and said in a Facebook post she was in downtown Riverside the day of the protest for dinner and a gallery show.
“It was a huge challenge to process that our sheriff would do this not just to an elected official, but to an individual, without providing any proof or evidence,” Cervantes told The Times shortly after the incident.
Times staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.
