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WILKES-BARRE — A Pennsylvania state trooper pleaded guilty to charges of driving under the influence and endangering children after being arrested on two separate incidents earlier this year.
Cpl. Eric T. Porpiglia, 34, appeared before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough on Thursday. Porpiglia entered guilty pleas on two counts of DUI and a count of endangering the welfare of children. All charges were misdemeanor counts.
Porpiglia, of Drums, was suspended without pay from his post at Troop N Hazleton in May after he was arrested for driving under the influence while two young girls, ages 2 and 8, were passengers in the vehicle.
That arrest came after PSP Hazleton received a call from a McDonald’s employee on Route 309 in Hazle Township. The caller alerted police to an intoxicated male in a white Chevrolet sedan, who left the parking lot around 8 p.m.
Troopers got another call from a different caller, who told them she saw a white Chevrolet driving all over the road on Route 940.
They caught up with the car at around 8:15 p.m., observing it veer into oncoming traffic and then the shoulder as it made a turn.
Troopers identified the driver as Porpiglia, who had signs of being heavily intoxicated, slurring his words and smelling strongly of alcohol.
The 8-year-old, who was seated in the front passenger seat, and the 2-year-old, in the back, were released to their grandparents on scene. Under a blood test, Porpiglia’s blood alcohol level was at 0.208 percent, far above the legal limit which is 0.08 percent.
Porpiglia was also arrested in Butler Township in February, when township police responded to a motor vehicle accident.
The officer observed a 2012 Mazda 3 with heavy damage in the eastbound lane. About 100 yards away in the westbound lane, a 2013 Cadillac Escalade was lying on an embankment with heavy damage.
The investigation determined Porpiglia, the driver of the Cadillac, traveling westbound swerved into the left lane and struck the Mazda head on.
Porpiglia’s blood alcohol level was sharply above the 0.08 limit at 0.207 percent.
Vough ordered Porpiglia’s sentencing be held on Nov. 22. Porpiglia will be allowed to apply for the county’s intermediate punishment program, which allows some defendants to go through alternative programs instead of incarceration, but it remains to be seen if he will be allowed to enroll.
Porpiglia employment status was not immediately clear; a state police spokesman was looking into the matter Thursday at a reporter’s request.