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Nesquehoning man drives drunk and high

A Carbon County man was sentenced to a state prison term on Friday in the county court after previously pleading guilty to drunken driving and drug charges.

Rodney Allen Rider, 35, of Nesquehoning was sentenced by Judge Joseph J. Matika on two counts each of driving under the influence and driving while under suspension - DUI related, and one count each of possession of a controlled substance and institutional vandalism.Rider was sentenced to serve a total of one to five years in a state correctional institution.After the sentencing was imposed, Matika conducted a probation revocation proceeding.He revoked Rider's probation and resentenced him to serve out his maximum term, which runs to Jan. 20, 2019.Matika rejected a request by Rider to run the probation violation term concurrent with the other charges and not max it out.Matika noted that since being in prison, Rider has had several misconducts in the jail.Matika also said that Rider has several probation revocations in the past and committed new crimes while on probation.Rider was arrested for the DUI counts on Dec. 10, 2015, and June 3, 2016.In both cases, a test revealed the presence of a controlled substance. The drug count stems from an incident on July 8, 2015, along Center Street filed by Jim Thorpe police.The vandalism charge stems from an incident at the county prison on Aug. 6, 2016, where he broke a window in his cell. Nesquehoning police filed the charge.Rider told the court, "I had a downfall in my life. I think I did enough for it."Matika imposed one- to five-year terms on the DUI charges, 45 to 90 days on each of the suspension counts, three to six months on the drug count and three to six months on the vandalism charge with all terms running concurrently.He was also ordered to pay total fines of $7,000 on the DUI and suspension counts with license suspensions totaling four years, get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations, make restitution to the county of $226.20 for the vandalism count, render 100 hours of community service when paroled and pay court costs of about $1,000.He was given credit for a total of 380 days.Although he has more than a year credit, the total is not for all the charges. Also, his parole is now subject to the state parole board.