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UPDATE: 12-13-06 |
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| A Patriot Ledger series: Summary | PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | UPDATES |
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Melanie's Story
STORIES
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Driver’s 15th OUI charge Indicted 3 months after Pembroke crashBy JOHN P. KELLY~ The Patriot Ledger Three months after Pembroke police refused to charge him, one of the state’s most notorious drunken drivers has been indicted for a 15th offense. Police believed Robert Scheller, 57, was drunk at the scene of an accident on Sept. 3, but did not arrest him because they did not think there was enough evidence.
Instead, they drove him to the Marshfield border and he was chauffeured home in a Marshfield cruiser. Scheller was arrested a week later in Marshfield on charges of driving drunk through a school zone just after classes let out. That’s when the Pembroke accident got a second look. Suzanne Havens, a Patriot Ledger reader who said she saw Scheller stagger away from the Pembroke accident, recognized his photo on the front page, and called the paper. She and other witnesses told a reporter that there was no doubt that Scheller had been drunk when he crashed his van in the parking lot at Stop & Shop on Route 139. Police Chief Gregory Wright investigated the accident and upheld the decision by the officers at the scene. But Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz ordered his own investigation, and yesterday the grand jury returned an indictment. Scheller will be arraigned on the Pembroke charge when he appears in Plymouth Superior Court next month for a pretrial hearing on the Marshfield charge. Scheller has been held in jail since his arrest in Marshfield on Sept. 12, when his driver’s license was revoked for life. His license had been suspended in 2002, but reinstated in March 2004. The grand jury heard testimony in the Pembroke case on Nov. 17 and handed up the indictment on Dec. 1. Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said the investigation was the result of the Patriot Ledger story on the accident. Havens, who called 911 to report Scheller’s erratic driving on Sept. 3, said she testified before the grand jury that she watched Scheller crash his white Dodge van into a light pole outside Stop & Shop. An internal police investigation found no fault on the part of officer Gregory Burns and Sgt. Richard Wall, who felt they’d be unable to prove Scheller had been behind the wheel. When the officers arrived at Stop & Shop, Scheller was “clearly drunk” but not in his van, according to a report of the investigation’s findings. Havens was standing nearby, but never approached officer Burns. Another witness, Philip Tortorella, told Burns that Scheller had nearly crashed head-on into his car. But turning his attention to Scheller, Burns lost track of Tortorella, and assumed the only witness had left, the report said. Tortorella had been sitting in his car. Both Pembroke officers were unaware of Scheller’s criminal past, a 24-year rap sheet that includes drunken driving convictions in five states. In a 1983 case, Scheller crashed into a car in Marshfield, sending a 22-year-old woman to the hospital with brain trauma and other serious injuries. Grand jury questioning was aimed at proving Scheller had been driving before police arrived at Stop & Shop, Havens said. “That’s what I was able to do,” she said. Willard Boulter, who recently took over as police chief, has no doubt that Burns and Wall would have arrested Scheller if they had spoken with the witnesses. “I can assure you they would have taken him in,” Boulter said. Scheller’s latest arrests will be prosecuted under Melanie’s Law, which provides tougher penalties for repeat offenders. Enacted in November 2005, it is named for Melanie Powell, a 13-year-old Marshfield girl killed by a repeat drunken driver in 2003. John P. Kelly may be reached at jkelly@ledger.com. |
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A first-hand story from the grandfather of 13-year-old victim Melanie Powell 
Alcohol's
causes and effects