CHRISTIANSBURG — A former Virginia State Police trooper who resigned from his job the day after he was arrested for driving under the influence will have an ignition interlock system placed in his vehicle for up to a year.

Lance Todd Rosenbaum, 27, of Riner was arrested after he crashed his pickup truck in the 1600 block of Union Valley Road about 10:15 p.m. Jan. 13. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the truck ran off the right side of the road and struck a telephone pole before coming to rest in someone’s yard.

According to court documents, Rosenbaum told a deputy that he had been drinking “a good bit.”
At a hearing today in Montgomery County General District Court, a special prosecutor appointed to the case said Rosenbaum suffered from a serious drinking problem.

Prosecutor Eric Branscom asked General District Court Judge Glenwood Lookabill, who was brought in a special judge to hear the case, to order Rosenbaum to have an ignition interlock system on his vehicle for at least six months. In January, Rosenbaum’s case is expected to be reviewed, at which point Lookabill will determine then if Rosenbaum should continue using the interlock system for another six months.

An ignition interlock system is a device that requires a driver to blow into an sensor to test for alcohol on the breath. If alcohol is detected, the vehicle won’t start.

Defense attorney Christopher Tuck said Rosenbaum is working on a dairy farm and will need to be able to drive to continue working. Lookbill granted Rosenbaum a restricted driver’s license.

Through his attorney, Rosenbaum pleaded not guilty to the DUI charge but admitted there was enough evidence for a conviction. He was found guilty and sentenced to a 60-day suspended jail sentence and 12 months probation. He also must pay $250 of a $1,000 fine and complete the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program.

As part of an agreement, the blood-alcohol content listed in the charge against Rosenbaum was struck from his record.

A preliminary breath alcohol test given at 10:50 p.m. showed his blood alcohol content to be 0.25 percent. An official blood test administered at 12:08 a.m. showed it at 0.19 percent, according to his paperwork.

The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

Rosenbaum stood silently by his attorney today, and there was no testimony about the crash. The sheriff’s office said at the time that his passenger, 27-year-old Devan Lee Howard of Riner, was seriously hurt. Howard was later released from the hospital.

State police have said Rosenbaum started working with them in June 2003 as a commercial vehicle enforcement officer at the scales off Interstate 81 in Botetourt County. He became a trooper assigned to Roanoke County in February 2005.

After his arrest, he was held in the Montgomery County Jail until 10 a.m. the next morning. Hours later he resigned from the state police.