Gardnerville man gets 10 years for drinking with children in car

Staff Reports

A Gardnerville man was sentenced Monday to up to 10 years in Nevada State Prison for driving while intoxicated with three children unrestrained in the back seat.

John Melvin Herron, 31, pleaded guilty to driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content of over .08, as well as the endangerment of children. His license was revoked but he is required to get a blood-alcohol content test for any future vehicle he may operate. He has credit for 59 days served. District Judge Michael Gibbons told him he has to serve a minimum of 30 months before he is eligible for parole.

Herron was spotted by a deputy on County Road, who initiated a traffic stop after Herron began to accelerate 40 mph in a 25-mph zone. Once he was pulled over, the deputy observed three unrestrained children, all under the age of four, in the backseat. Herron had a prior felony conviction before his most recent arrest.

Herron has a history of mental health issues that his family said he refuses to acknowledge.

He was diagnosed with bipolar disease as a teenager and was put on lithium at 16 years old, and according to his mother it made a big difference. Herron self-medicates with alcohol for depression and anxiety. He has been an alcoholic for most of his adult life, he said in reports.

Herron's lawyer, Terri Roeser, said that Herron realizes he has a problem and indicates that he needs a long-term program.

"I just want to apologize to my family, and apologize to anyone who's been hurt by a drunk driver," Herron said in court on Monday.

"As soon as you got out of prison, you started drinking again," Gibbons told Herron. "If you won't stop drinking and driving, you have to be in prison. You can't have one drink ever again for the rest of your life. I don't know if you can do it, but you have to."

n An Indian Hills woman pleaded guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance and was sentenced to three years in Douglas County Jail.

District Judge Michael Gibbons told Teresa Castellanos-Pedilla, 22, that she had to serve a minimum of 12 months before she is eligible for parole. She previously had to serve nine months and has credit for 171 days.

Castellanos-Pedilla was arrested Feb. 17, 2006, at a house in Indian Hills where she lived with Leo Osorio-Chavez.

Her purse was found containing 73 grams of methamphetamine that she said she had put in there because she wanted it out of reach of her 3-year-old son.

She said the drugs were not hers and she has never used drugs in her life, according to reports.

"All of this was a mistake," Castellanos-Pedilla said in a letter to Judge Gibbons. "The drugs were not mine."

According to reports, Castellanos-Pedilla said that in her culture, the man of the house has the say over goings-on and other household affairs. She said that although she knew what was going on, she did not participate, although once she was asked to when Osorio-Chavez was unavailable, but she declined.

According to prosecutor Dina Salvucci, Castellanos-Pedilla stayed with Osorio-Chavez because he provided food and shelter for her and her child.

"She knew she was involved because she was there. Cooking, cleaning, covering for him," said Salvucci. "The strongest case [out of the five other defendants involved] is hers but she didn't actually sell any drugs. She is the one person who didn't use drugs, and she is a young mother."

Castellanos-Pedilla's son is staying with her parents in Mexico, and she is afraid that the news of her sentencing may add physical stress on her ageing grandmother.

Castellanos-Pedilla provided substantial help to the court involving other aspects of the case.

"You made a horrible mistake," Gibbons told her. "I hope you learn a lesson from this."