A Marengo woman has pleaded guilty to driving drunk a fifth time, and then the judge set a hearing in another case against her that alleges she drove drunk again while on pretrial release.
Kathie Zaremba, 62, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence with four past violations, a Class 2 felony. She was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to an order filed in McHenry County court and signed by Judge Mark Gerhardt.
In the case to which Zaremba pleaded guilty, she drove drunk while carrying an open alcohol container in the passenger side of her vehicle on March 15, 2024, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said three days later, she was involved in a head-on collision while driving drunk about 10 p.m. on Huntley Road in Crystal Lake. The crash sent Zaremba to a local hospital, and the occupants of the other vehicle sustained minor injuries. Charges in this case were dismissed, records show.
Crystal Lake Police determined that Zaremba’s blood-alcohol concentration at the time of the collision was 0.10, above the legal limit, prosecutors said.
While out of county jail on pretrial release as these cases were pending, and while she was participating in specialty DUI court, Zaremba was charged again, according to court records. This time, she was charged with a more serious Class X offense of aggravated DUI with five prior offenses, records show. If convicted in this case, she could be sentenced up to 30 years in prison.
In that case, Zaremba was arrested on April 22 in the 18800 block of East Grant Highway in Marengo after “crashing her vehicle into a ditch, striking a water shutoff valve, and subsequently driving through a Taco Bell parking lot before stopping,” prosecutors wrote in a motion to discharge her from DUI court. The specialty court is designed to reduce recidivism and encourage rehabilitation.
However, prosecutors already had filed the motion to withdraw her from that program before the April 22 incident. In the motion – first filed about six months before April 22 and eight months after Zaremba was accepted into the program – prosecutors list multiple alleged violations of the specialty court. They wrote that Zaremba tested positive for alcohol and marijuana, missed required drug and alcohol screens, submitted a diluted urine test at a screening and did not provide her probation officer with logs documenting her attendance in sober support meetings.
According to the motion, she did not keep her alcohol-monitoring unit properly charged, and when a probation officer visited her home, she opened the door naked, Assistant State’s Attorney William Baker said in the motion.
In detaining Zaremba in county jail following the April arrest, Judge Cynthia Lamb said that it was “clear” that Zaremba “is unable or unwilling to obey the laws of this state based on this case and the pending case in DUI court, and is therefore a risk to the community.”
In the 2024 case to which she pleaded guilty Tuesday, Crystal Lake police said Zaremba’s Jeep was traveling south on Huntley Road near Boneset Drive when it crossed into the northbound lane and collided with a sedan. Zaremba and two people in the sedan were taken to a hospital with injuries, police said.
Previous DUI offenses against Zaremba occurred in 1991 and 1999 in Cook County, 2002 in DuPage County and March 2024 in McHenry County, three days before being charged in her fifth DUI offense, records show.
“Driving under the influence is a serious and preventable threat to public safety,” McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi Freese said in a news release. “Ms. Zaremba’s repeated decisions to drive while impaired placed countless members of our community at risk.”
She is required to serve half her prison time and will receive credit for 76 days in jail.
Zaremba, due back in court April 22 on the pending DUI, also has a pending domestic violence charge from 2023 and is on probation for an alleged 2022 offense of domestic violence, records show. Prosecutors have filed a petition to revoke that probation, records show.