A Milan man is heading to prison after pleading guilty to a seventh DUI charge in Mercer County Circuit Court. 61-year-old James A. Taets entered the guilty plea to the Class X felony Monday morning says Mercer County State’s Attorney Grace Simpson. Taets will serve in six years in prison.
Taets was arrested earlier this year following a police pursuit that originated near the Mercer/Rock Island County line. According to a Mercer County Sheriff’s Department press release, deputies stopped a fleeing vehicle on April 15 and arrested Taets. He was also charged with possession of meth, driving revoked, aggravated fleeing, and resisting a peace officer, but those counts were dismissed as part of the guilty plea. His six-year Mercer County sentence will run concurrent with a five-year prison sentence handed down in Henry County stemming from three driving revoked cases.