Drunk School Bus Driver Gets 2 Years, 8 Months

A school bus driver who came to court intoxicated Tuesday was sentenced today to two years and eight months in prison for driving his bus while drunk and using an alias to get the job and a

driver’s license.

Unlike Tuesday, when he came to court disheveled and disrupted court proceedings by yelling “No way, Jose,” bus driver Harold Keith Lone sat quietly in a blue jail uniform as Van Nuys

Superior Court Judge James M. Coleman discussed sentencing options.

Lone, 40, had been held in the Los Angeles County Jail overnight on Coleman’s orders after Lone’s blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.35%--more than four times the 0.8% level at which a

person is legally presumed to be intoxicated, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven Plafker said.

Prosecutors had speculated Tuesday that Lone’s intoxication and conduct could prompt Coleman to reject the plea agreement reached in March when Lone pleaded guilty to one count of perjury

and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol for being drunk when he arrived to pick up children at an Encino elementary school in January.

In exchange for Lone’s guilty plea, prosecutors had agreed to drop an additional count of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license and agreed to ask for a sentence of

no more than two years and eight months in prison.