ONLY ON 3: Most of Petrolino’s charges dropped; Won’t serve jail time

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Nearly one year after Wrightsville Beach Police say a 19-year-old girl was huffing dust cleaner and crashed her car, several of her charges have been dismissed.

After months of delayed hearings, Randi Petrolino pleaded guilty recently to one charge of inhaled toxic vapors and driving after consuming under age 21. Her sentence includes 24 months of supervised probation, as well as community outreach and a revoked license.

When Petrolino crashed her car last May, she was charged with DWI, driving after consuming, failed to give notice, and damage to real property, which could have landed the 19-year-old in jail. Prosecutors say after considering all of their options, they decided a plea deal was their best option.

“The blood results didn’t give us a level as to what was in her system,” Assistant District Attorney Kristen Robinson said. “That’s what we would have to prove for the DWI charge, is that she was previously impaired on that substance. We didn’t have a level.”

Robinson says the results from the state lab showed Petrolino had some substances in her system, but was not enough to get a conviction. She says the District Attorney’s Office also considered the fact that Petrolino took steps to improve her lifestyle before her court date.

“She had completed going to AA meetings and inpatient treatment,” Robinson said. “She had done a few things to work toward sobriety and had shown us that she had tried to change her life so that’s part of the reason we made that decision.”

Robinson says the main reason the DWI charge was dropped is because of insufficient evidence due to the missing levels, but she says Petrolino’s age played a part a well.

“The fact that she was so young and had done so many things towards sobriety was part of that also,” Robinson said.

Petrolino will have to take regular drug and alcohol tests as part of her probation.