By Dave Rogers
The Daily News
NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — A Lynn man accused of fooling police and prosecutors into thinking he was his brother to avoid a fifth drunken driving arrest faces up to 20 years in prison after a Salem grand jury indicted him on perjury.
In addition to the perjury charge, Joseph G. Viarella, 58, of 28 Loomis St., Revere, faces witness intimidation, driving while under the influence of alcohol (fifth offense), and operating a motor vehicle with a license suspended for OUI.
He is due back in Newburyport Distirct Court Friday for a pretrial hearing, but according to an Essex County District Attorney’s office spokeswoman, he is due to be arraigned in Salem Superior Court, making Friday’s appearance just a formality. Viarella was issued a bail warning and released on personal recognizance.
The case of alleged mistaken identity began on Sept. 18, 2010 when Viarella was arrested for drunken driving in Newbury and was able to convince police officers that he was his brother, Christopher, 51. Two days later in district court, Joseph Viarella again posed as his brother and pleaded to the charge of drunken driving-first offense.
But when the Registry of Motor Vehicles sent word to Christopher Viarella that his license had been suspended for OUI, he alerted authorities that he was nowhere near Newbury and never set foot in the courtroom.
The difference in penalties for OUI-first offense and OUI-fifth offense are substantial. First-time offenders have their licenses suspended for one year. Fifth-time offenders have their licenses revoked for the rest of their lives.
His arrest in 2010 came after Joseph Viarella was driving southbound on Route 1 after visiting friends on Salisbury Beach when police watched his car swerve into the other lane and brake quickly.
When questioned by police, he identified himself as his brother and then agreed to field sobriety tests. After failing those tests and blowing a .15 blood alcohol level, almost twice the legal limit, he was charged with drunken driving.
But what police didn’t know was that Joseph Viarella had been convicted four times previously for OUI including incidents in Malden, Boston and Maine dating back to 1982.
Armed with an arrest warrant, Newbury police went to Viarella’s Revere house in April and placed him under arrest.
Days later he was arraigned in Newburyport District Court while his brother and father watched from the gallery.
Copyright 2014 The Daily News of Newburyport