Judge Doubles Sentence for Laguna Niguel Ex-Deputy in DUI Case

An ex-Orange County sheriff's deputy a month ago was sentenced today to twice as much time behind bars than he previously faced for several DUI-related charges stemming from a collision that injured a 78-year-old woman.

Allan James Waters, 38, of Laguna Niguel, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison by Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank Fasel.

Earlier this year, Fasel offered Waters a plea bargain of no more than
16 months in prison if he pleaded guilty. Waters pleaded guilty April 7 to charges related to the collision, but when he came to court June 10 to be sentenced, he was too intoxicated to go through with it, Deputy District Attorney Brock Zimmon said.

Fasel told Waters he could withdraw his guilty plea since the judge intended to send him to prison for more than 16 months, but the former deputy still decided to plead guilty.

"Allan has always taken responsibility for what he did,'' Waters'
attorney Anita Kay said after the hearing. "He didn't want to put the victims or his family through a trial.''

Fasel said he wanted Waters to serve more time in prison because the
judge had new concerns about public safety in light of Waters' intoxication at the June 10 hearing, Zimmon said.

Waters was "doctor shopping'' for prescription drugs before he got into
the collisions that landed him in jail, Zimmon said. Waters sought
prescription painkillers from eight doctors between March 2009 and March of last year, he said.

Waters hurt his back in a work-related incident in 2009 and he was
prescribed pain killers, Kay said.

"All of this started from a legitimate injury and getting prescriptions,'' Kay said. "This is what happens with addiction. It shows it can happen to anyone. It's really, really sad. He's lost so much. He's really a
good man and none of this was intentional. He feels horrible for the victims and what he's put this family through.''

In June 2010 Waters was involved in a couple of traffic crashes, including one in which the 78-year-old woman hurt her back seriously enough that she needed surgery.

Waters was driving a 2008 Mercedes-Benz south on Golden Lantern Street in Dana Point about 4:45 p.m. March 1, 2010, when he rear-ended a car at a red light, according to prosecutors. Sheriff's deputies who knew Waters was off duty let him go, but less than an hour later, he got into the collision on northbound Golden Lantern that injured the woman, prosecutors said.

Waters was impaired by the prescription drugs Zolpidem and Hydrocodone at the time, according to prosecutors.

Waters was working hard on his recovery and had weaned himself off his dependency on the pain killers, but returning to court and seeing many of his former co-workers "was humiliating for him,'' which may explain why he had been drinking before the June 10 hearing, Kay said.

Waters was in the Navy for about seven years before joining the Sheriff's Department in the mid-1990s, Kay said.

"He was someone who really dedicated his life to this country and this
community,'' Kay said.

Waters pleaded guilty to a felony count of driving under the influence
causing bodily injury, two felony counts of selling a substance in lieu of
cocaine, nine felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, and he admitted a sentencing enhancement allegation of causing great bodily injury to an elder, Zimmon said.

—City News Service