Third Pa. Turnpike official in a year arrested

For the third time in just over a year, an official of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has run afoul of the law.

George Hatalowich, chief operating officer of the commission, has been charged with driving under the influence, police in central Pennsylvania said Thursday.

Hatalowich, 44, was driving a car that spun out of control April 5 and crashed into a fence owned by Hersheypark in Derry Township, Dauphin County.

Police said he then drove away, headed north in the southbound lane.

Police said Hatalowich had a blood-alcohol level of 0.137 percent - the legal limit is 0.080 percent - and was charged with two counts of DUI. Court officials confirmed the charges Thursday afternoon.

Commission spokesman Carl DeFabo said that because Hatalowich had been driving his private vehicle on personal time, no disciplinary action would be taken immediately.

But DeFabo left the door open for the commission to take steps later.

"He's facing these charges at a court date on May 26," DeFabo said from his Harrisburg office. "Depending on what happens on May 26, we could take some additional steps."

Hatalowich did not return a telephone message seeking comment. His preliminary hearing is scheduled before District Judge Dominic Pelino, court officials said.

In February, Timothy J. Carson, vice chairman of the Turnpike Commission, resigned because of two drunken-driving accidents while he was in official vehicles.

In his resignation letter to Gov. Rendell, Carson said he had not reported the accidents in 2003 and 2006 as required by the turnpike's rules. He said he had paid all repair costs and received two DUI convictions.

"I take full responsibility for these mistakes, which, in retrospect, resulted from my failure to acknowledge that I had (and still have) an alcohol-dependency problem," Carson wrote in his letter.

Carson, a Center City public-finance lawyer with Saul Ewing L.L.P., who had served on the commission since 2000, said in his letter that he had abstained from drinking alcohol since the 2006 accident.

His resignation followed by less than a year the dismissal of Turnpike Commission Chairman Mitchell Rubin, 58.

Rendell fired Rubin in March 2009 after Rubin received a "target letter" from the FBI indicating he was under investigation on allegations that he took a $30,000-a-year "ghost job" for five years from then-State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Phila.).

This month, a federal judge sentenced Rubin to six months of house arrest and ordered him to return $150,000 he had earned in the no-work job. Rubin repaid the money before sentencing, but didn't admit to defrauding the Senate.