A Cook County judge sentenced 36-year-old Brookfield resident Luis Rosa to 30 months felony probation after Rosa pleaded guilty to two counts of driving on a revoked license related to an incident in front of Riverside-Brookfield High School in August 2013.
Rosa made his plea in front of Judge Gregory Ginex at the Maybrook courthouse on Feb. 26. In addition to probation, Ginex ordered Rosa to serve 300 hours of community service, submit to DNA indexing and pay nearly $700 in fines and associated court costs.
A police officer assigned to watch for traffic violations near the high school pulled Rosa over on the morning of Aug. 30 after Rosa’s white Pontiac made an illegal U-turn on Ridgewood Road and nearly struck the officer.
Rosa, who had just dropped off his child at the school, was directed to pull over by the officer. He initially told the officer his name was Victor Mendez, and he was arrested when a computer check showed that a driving permit issued to that name in 1998 had expired. The officer also reported finding a beer bottle and a bottle of vodka in the front area of the car.
Through further investigation, police learned Rosa’s fingerprints were associated with several different names, including his real name, Victor Mendez. He told police he bought a driver’s license with the name Luis Rosa from a vendor in Chicago about 15 years ago.
He told police his name was Victor Mendez, because he knew the Luis Rosa license had been revoked for four prior drunk driving convictions, including one in Riverside. Police decided to charge him under the name Luis Rosa.
