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    Saturday, May 04, 2024

    Former Stonington teacher charged with DWI for a fourth time

    Stonington -- A former West Vine Street School teacher with three previous drunken-driving arrests and a fourth for driving erratically and throwing bottles out of her car was charged again Saturday night with driving under the influence.

    Police said that they received a 911 call about an erratic driver on Route 1 near Montauk Avenue. A police office was able to pull over Anne Collette, 55, of 10 Cutler St. She was given field sobriety tests before being taken into custody and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs at 9:19 p.m.

    On the night of Oct. 29, 2014, Stonington police charged Collette with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and failure to drive right after they said she crashed her car into a guardrail on Elm Street, causing her vehicle to roll over onto Route 1. She suffered minor injuries. The outcome of that case is unknown, as it has been deleted from the state judicial department online database. That typically occurs when a first-time offender successfully completes the state’s alcohol education program.

    On May 31, 2015, Collette was charged with driving under the influence in Rhode Island. She pleaded no contest to DWI-first offense and was fined, had her driver’s license suspended for six months and was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and undergo alcohol counseling.

    She was also charged on April 11, 2015, by Stonington police after they received a report from a witness that a car was being driven erratically on Elmridge Road, crossing the center line and going onto the dirt shoulder while just missing a pole and another car. The driver also reportedly was seen throwing bottles out the window.

    Police went to Collette’s home, where they said residents were uncooperative and said the officers could not speak to Collette.

    Two months later she turned herself in and was charged with reckless driving, failure to drive right and littering. The outcome of that case is not available on the state judicial department data base, which typically indicates a defendant has been granted admission into a diversionary program that leads to charges being erased.

    On the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2015, Collette was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs after a motorist called the police to report an erratic driver on Route 1. She was stopped after she turned in to the high school parking lot and then back out onto Route 1. She refused to take a Breathalyzer test. She eventually pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. She was fined $500 and received a suspended six-month prison term. She was also placed on one year of probation which ended in April.

    Collette resigned her teaching position in September 2015 after 18 years.

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