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A Montgomery County man is headed to prison for the next 30 years after being arrested for 12 DWIs, from Texas to Florida and back again, since 1985.
Kevin Michael Koch, 53, of Montgomery, pled guilty before trial started Monday in Conroe’s 221st District Court, according to Scott Engle, of Montgomery County Police Reporter. Here’s a closer look at Koch’s colorful journey to prison.
On January 9, 1985, he was convicted of driving while intoxicated in Harris County Court 12 and given probation, which was revoked on January 9, 1987.
On June 3, 1986 he was convicted of harassment in Montgomery County.
On January 29, 1987, he was again arrested in Brown County, Texas, for theft and given probation. His probation lasted just shy of three years when it was revoked.
On December 2, 1987, Koch was charged with driving without a license. He was lucky on his next DWI, which happened on April 8, 1988, as it was dismissed in Harris County.
On May 17, 1988, he was convicted of his second DWI in Harris County.
He lucked out again on December 29, 1990, when another DWI case was dismissed in the 228th District Court of Harris County.
But, He Wouldn’t Get So Lucky Again… Read More of Koch’s Journey to Prison Below.
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He plead guilty to theft and was given Deferred Adjudication on January 5, 1990 in Harris County.
On August 21, 1991, he was convicted of felony theft in Harris County 248th District Court.
DWI conviction number three came on February 18, 1993, and open container in Montgomery County 284th District Court.
On August 3, 1994, Koch was convicted of burglary of a habitation in Harris County and given probation which was revoked on August 16, 1995, due to him being convicted of DWI number three in the 249th District Court of Harris County.
He moved onto Davidson County, Tennessee and assumed the name of Carl Wendell Hall. There, on November 24, 1996, he was again charged with a DWI, he refused to consent to a blood specimen which is Tennessee law. He also fought with Officer Aaron Wigginton injuring him after Wigginton was kicked several times.
Wigginton, who is with the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department, flew to Conroe for the trial to testify until Koch plead guilty was happy he was off the streets.
Koch then fled to Clay County, Fla., where, still running under the name of Carl Wendell Hall, he was driving his 1995 red Chevrolet pickup with another set of fake Texas license plates. He was stopped on traffic and refused to identify himself. On February 13, 1997, he was convicted of his first DWI since he was running under a false name.
He returned to Texas, and on September 30, 2011, then Texas Ranger Kevin Pullen, who has since retired and is now a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Captain, was on his way to a homicide when he reached Highway 105 at Walden Road. He encountered a pickup truck driving into on coming traffic. With the assistance of Trooper Brack, Koch was arrested and charged with felony DWI. His blood alcohol was at .17, twice the legal limit.
Then on March 8, 2012, Koch forgot who he was when he was stopped by Webster, Texas Police. He identified himself at Carl Wendall Hall once again. This time, however, Harris County with advanced technology scanned his fingerprints as they do all incoming inmates to the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System. That system didn’t just give up his real identity, but also his fake name and out of state DWI charges.
He was convicted of third or more DWI in Harris County on October 31, 2012, and was able to celebrate Halloween in a jail costume in the Harris County Jail. Assistant District Attorney Vince Santini of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office worked many hours from the time Koch was arrested in 2011 until he came to trial and pled out on Monday. It took a lot of investigative work on his part and his Investigator Heather Cash, who is also with the District Attorney’s Office.
Not only did they pull records from all agencies involved, many of which were long stored away in archives, they found witnesses and officers from the prior cases and had them prepared to testify.
The officers from Florida and Tennessee were flown in to testify and make this a rock solid case. Santini said he is tired of seeing the intoxicated drivers on the roads and he was bound and determined to make sure Koch remained off the streets for a long time.
Even though Koch got the 18 years in Harris County, he will only serve the 30-year-sentence that he was given in Montgomery County.
12 DWIs Later, Montgomery Man Finally Going to Prison [PHOTOS] was originally published on news92fm.com
