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Lodi mom who was DWI with kids in car avoids jail time — with conditions

ONLY ON CVP: A Lodi single mother who had both of her children in the car when police pulled her over for drunk driving in Hasbrouck Heights last winter avoided jail time in a Hackensack courtroom yesterday.

Photo Credit: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

Ivette Cardenas, 36, is a “single parent with no paternal support at all,” said Superior Court Judge James J. Guida, calling the incident “an anomaly that’s unlikely to recur.”

Guida sentenced Cardenas to two years probation, 30 days community service and a two-year suspension of her driver’s license.

Once her license is restored, she will have to drive with a breath-alcohol interlock device in her car for a year, he ordered.

The judge also reminded Cardenas that the consequences for another DWI would be 180 days in jail and a 10-year loss of driving privileges.

Cardenas was doing 45 miles an hour in a 25 mph zone when police pulled her over on Dec. 12.

The Dominican native lost custody of her children as a result. However, she worked with the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency to get them returned and has remained under the agency’s supervision, her attorney said.

Her voice choked with emotion, Cardenas told Guida that she’s deeply ashamed of putting her children in jeopardy and will never do it again. She pleaded guilty to a single count of child endangerment.

STORY / PHOTO: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter

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