A Villager’s 50-year-old daughter will lose her driver’s license for five years after her second arrest for driving under the influence within a two-year period here in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
Pamela Diane Hess, 50, who lives with her mother at 1221 Allaire Loop in the Village of Fernandina, was sentenced last week in Sumter County Court after pleading no contest to charges of driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while license suspended.
She had been arrested Oct. 20 and bonded out three days later. However, she was booked at the jail again Oct. 28 when it was discovered that her most recent arrest was a violation of her probation. Hess remained in jail until this past Tuesday when she was released as part of her sentence included “time served.”
In October, Hess was transported by ambulance to UF Health-Leesburg Hospital after crashing a red Buick LaCrosse on Hillsborough Trail, according to an arrest report from the Florida Highway Patrol. When an investigator arrived on the scene, he noted “heavy damage” to the front end of the Buick which had been involved in a single-vehicle accident. The investigator went to the hospital and when he arrived there, he was advised by dispatch there had been another crash location. The first accident had occurred at a home on Ladd Court, not far from where Hess resides. The Buick’s front bumper was still on the lawn from the impact of the vehicle knocking over a light pole at the home. Hess apparently fled the scene of that crash.
The Missouri native’s actions led the investigator to believe that Hess was under the influence. During an interview at the hospital, Hess admitted she had taken several medications prior to the crash. She provided a breath sample that indicated she had not consumed alcohol. She also provided a urine sample.
Hess had been arrested when she was driving the same red Buick in 2020 and got confused by the red button at an entry gate in The Villages. Her license was suspended after that arrest and she was placed on probation.
