AUBURN – A Lewiston woman was sentenced Monday to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to three counts of operating under the influence of alcohol.

Police say Carella Brooks’ blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit at the time of each arrest.

Her sentence includes a $2,000 fine for each count and will be followed by five years of probation.

In addition, Justice Thomas E. Delahanty II ordered that the driver’s license stay suspended for as long as legally possible.

Brooks, 40, has a drunken-driving record that dates back to 1999, when she was convicted of operating under the influence in Lewiston, then again in Rumford. As a result of the charges, her license was suspended.

She stayed out of trouble until Christmas day in 2002, when she was pulled over in Lewiston after crashing into the Chalet Motel. According to state prosecutors, her blood-alcohol level was more than .30 percent when she was pulled over.

The legal limit in Maine is .08 percent.

Brooks was arrested and released on $300 bail. In less than two months, she was facing another charge.

A Lewiston officer pulled her over on Feb. 7 after he saw her swerving toward a snowbank on Frye Street. The officer followed her down Frye, College and Russell streets before stopping her on Sabattus Street.

Her blood-alcohol level was .23 percent, according to court records.

This time, her bail was set at $1,000 and she was recommended for drug court, a strict recovery program that gives convicted criminals with substance-abuse problems an opportunity to stay out of jail in exchange for staying sober and out of trouble.

On May 17, the day after Brooks was scheduled to begin drug court, she was arrested again on Pettingill Street. A police report on this charge states that her blood-alcohol level was .27 percent.

Most drunken-driving charges are resolved in District Court with a fine or a brief jail sentence.

Due to Brooks’ previous record, however, the District Attorney’s Office decided to present her three most recent cases to a grand jury to be considered as felony charges.

As part of an agreement with the state, two counts of operating after suspension and one count of violating the conditions of her bail were dismissed in exchange for her guilty pleas on the three drunken-driving charges.

[email protected]