An attorney has been ordered to stay off booze after a disorderly intoxication arrest.
Pravesh Bobby Rumalla, 54, an Ocala criminal defense attorney, was allowed earlier this month to enter into a pre-trial intervention contract which would enable him to escape prosecution in the case. Terms of the contract call for him to seek help from the Florida Lawyers Assistance Alcohol Abuse Treatment program and not consume alcohol. He must also perform 20 hours of community service without the opportunity to “buy out” of the service and write a letter of apology to a female police officer.
He was arrested Feb. 23 at the Wawa on U.S. 301 in Oxford.
Rumalla and his girlfriend were “shoving each other” outside a white Jaguar SUV at pump 15, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. The girlfriend was pumping gas into the Jaguar SUV and Rumalla was trying to retrieve his phone from her. A witness said Rumalla attempted to “wrestle” with the woman while the gas pump nozzle was still in her hand.
A male Wawa employee dialed 911 while a female employee held the convenience store’s door closed after Rumalla’s girlfriend sought shelter inside.
An officer attempted to question Rumalla, who initially was reluctant to reveal his identity. It appeared he had been drinking. He claimed he had not been driving the SUV.
Rumalla eventually revealed he is an attorney and began forcefully insisting he had not broken the law.
“Do you think you know the law better than Bobby Rumalla?” he asked the officer. “I don’t think you know me, you’ll regret it tomorrow.”
Rumalla admitted he had been “partying” and said he had consumed “maybe three Jameson’s.”
Rumalla represented a Villager in a mentoring situation that went awry. His client was later arrested on a charge of driving under the influence.
Rumalla defended an orthopedic surgeon who practiced at The Villages Hospital after he was snared in a prostitution sting in 2016.
Rumalla defended a driver in the aftermath of a 2014 accident on Interstate 75 which claimed the life of George Phillips who sold homes for Properties of The Villages, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Chelsea Richard and tow truck operator John Duggan.
