Two principals of Lake County charter schools were charged last week with drunk driving, accused of driving the same car within hours of each other after the two had a night out together at a restaurant in Clermont.
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Jennifer Jimenez, 41, and Christina Alcalde, 45, were arrested in the early morning hours of July 5 for driving under the influence and refusing to submit to sobriety tests, both second-degree misdemeanors. They both have pleaded not guilty.
The pair were traveling together when Jimenez, who was appointed principal at Pinecrest Academy Tavares in April, was pulled over just after 2 a.m. after police caught her swerving a white Jeep into the opposite lanes on Minnehaha Avenue near Hooks Street, according to an arrest affidavit from the Clermont Police Department. At one point, police said Jimenez drove over a curb and, though driving south, veered into the northbound lane before police pulled her over.
The Jeep belonged to Alcalde, who police said was in the passenger seat and told them they had left a restaurant where they had several drinks that were “poured heavy.”
The affidavit described Jimenez as walking “very unsteady and choppy” after she was asked to step out of the car and said she “staggered and swayed as she attempted to stand still.” She was handcuffed and taken to the Lake County Jail.
Alcalde, who has served as principal at Pinecrest Lakes Academy since 2017, ordered a car from a ridesharing app to get her home, and police parked the Jeep in a nearby lot, the affidavit said.
Around 5 a.m., however, police noted the car was no longer in the lot. Alcalde, who police said was slurring her words and was “unsteady on her feet” when Jimenez was arrested, had returned to the scene and retrieved the Jeep, only to be stopped about a mile away, on State Road 50 near Sandhill View Boulevard, the document said.
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Alcalde told police she understood she wasn’t supposed to be driving, according to the affidavit, but said she was attempting to post bond for Jimenez. She later refused to take a breath test, the affidavit said.
When contacted Tuesday morning about Alcalde, listed as the principal on Pinecrest Lakes Academy’s website, and her employment status, the person who answered the school’s phone said she could not provide any information.
Jimenez was a vice principal at Pinecrest Lakes Academy until she was appointed as the principal at Pinecrest Academy Tavares. That school did not answer its phone Tuesday morning.
As charter schools, the two campuses are publicly funded but run by private groups.
The Pinecrest Academy governing board, which oversees more than a dozen charter schools in Florida including the two where Alcalde and Jimenez worked, did not respond to a request for comment.
Both women were bonded out of the Lake County Jail on $2,000 bond. Their next court hearing is set to take place Aug. 3.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.