AUBURN – A Mechanic Falls woman with multiple convictions for OUI, speeding and other traffic violations has been sent to jail for six months for driving after her license was suspended.

Kristina Benson, 23, was sentenced to 18 months in jail with all but six months suspended. She was also sentenced to 18 months probation and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

Benson was also ordered to serve 90 days, concurrently with the longer sentence, for leaving the scene of an accident.

According to the District Attorney’s Office, because the incident occurred in January 2006, her case did not trigger Tina’s Law, a late-2006 statute that imposed mandatory minimum sentences for habitual offenders. Named for Tina Turcotte, a Scarborough woman killed in a Maine Turnpike accident involving a trucker with a lengthy driving record, Tina’s Law mandates jail time ranging from six months to five years and fines ranging from $500 to $3,000.

According to the Secretary of State’s Office, Benson received her first ticket – going 61 mph in a 35 mph zone – less than two months after she got her license in 2000. Since then, her license has been suspended 27 times for OUI, speeding and other offenses.

Benson’s license has been suspended since August 2005, when she was placed on habitual offender status, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. She has not held an active license since and will not be allowed to hold one until at least July 2010.

In addition to her numerous motor vehicle violations, in 2003, Benson, then 19, lost control of her car after she fell asleep while driving on Main Street in Auburn. Her car struck a snowbank and then went airborne, crashing down on four vehicles parked at Skelton, Taintor & Abbott. A couple of months later, she crashed into house at the corner of Main Street and Libby Avenue in Lewiston. She told police she had fallen asleep.