BANGOR, Maine — A former varsity girls soccer and basketball coach at Nokomis Regional High School in Newport pleaded guilty Wednesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to drunken driving.
Kori Dionne, 31, of Glenburn will serve her mandatory 72-hour sentence next month in the alternative sentencing program, which includes community service.
She resigned her coaching positions in late June but continues to work for Nokomis as an educational technician, according to her attorney, Joshua Tardy of Newport.
Dionne pleaded guilty Wednesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to operating under the influence of intoxicants, a Class D crime. She was arrested June 8 in Bangor after a Falvey Street resident called police to report a running car in the middle of the roadway with a woman asleep inside, police said last month.
Her blood alcohol level was 0.21 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, according to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office.
In addition to ordering Dionne to attend the alternative sentencing program working over the weekend of Aug. 11-12 at a local school, District Court Judge Bruce Jordan ordered her to pay the mandatory minimum $600 fine for a first OUI conviction plus fees and surcharges. The judge also ordered that her license be suspended for 90 days.
Tardy said after the sentencing that it was important that Dionne accept responsibility for her crime.
“She’s looking forward to moving on with her life,” he said.
Dionne, a former point guard for Bangor High School and a 1999 graduate of the school, took over as coach of the Nokomis Warriors girls basketball team in 2007 and became the girls soccer coach in 2008, according to a previously published report.
Dionne led the girls basketball team to the Eastern Maine Class B championship game three years in a row, this year with an undefeated team that lost to Presque Isle in the finale.
She has a career record of 70-32 as the basketball coach, including 56-9 the last three years in Class B after two seasons in Class A, according to information in the Bangor Daily News sports archives.
Dionne has a career record of 26-28-3 in four seasons as the girls soccer coach, including 24-16-3 since the Warriors moved from Class A to Class B in 2009.
As a player at Bangor, Dionne was on the Rams team that advanced to the 1999 Eastern Maine Class A final, and she was a Penobscot Valley Conference softball all-star and Maine Softball Coaches Association all-star.
It’s quite refreshing to hear someone actually go into a court room and say yes, I did it, I’m guilty. I hope that this plea means that she realizes she was wrong and has learned her lesson.
Do you believe that she should be publicly condemed for life for this? And always be called a drunk the remainder of her days.
Or shall we only condem the homeless and poor people for bad decisions?
who said anything about calling her names for life. She made a stupid mistake, is paying for it. Hindsight, she should have known better and flushed a good job down the toilet…but it is her life. Luckily, she didn’t hurt anyone but herself.
When folks do stupid things as drinking then driving on Maine roads then passing out with the car running in the middle of the road. Then her having a .21 blood alcohol level folks like her deserve all the fallout they get. She only resigned because she released a public statement through her lawyer former State Rep. Josh Tardy . Wondering why the media , comments from folks on different websites like this one , and from the kids parents calling the school district asking why she should resign. She created her own problems and luckily didn’t kill or hurt anyone including herself. This woman needs serious help for her issues with booze as I said in the post below. She will be better off when she gets the help she needs gets away from the booze and away from any bad influence that wants her to keep on partying and boozing it up. She can have a good life with huge potential even without using alcohol.
You’re annoying…
Quote George Stein “Never plead guilty to a OUI, even if your as quilty as can be.”
http://www.georgestein.com/
Her DUI was a personal and civil matter that in no way affects her job. She didn’t show up at school that way. Many more of us have been there than will admit it here.
Agreed! Everyone is entitled to a mistake, it happens everyday.
How true this statement is!! And usually those that run on about it have so far just been lucky—We all make mistakes, and I also feel bad that she no longer has her coaching position.–Especially in light of what some coaches have done and will most likely continue to do in the future!
Thanks. I usually get 8-9 slaps when I make a comment like that. :)
Actually it does she has no business coaching kids at this time. She obviously needs help for her alcohol issues. Because it looks like in the bottom picture she isn’t doing or looking well. She will be better off in the long run doing her punishment, then getting help and drop the booze, and going into schools teaching folks about the negative issues that alcohol does to people such as her. It will make her be a better person in the long run. Because the next time she does this she might not be as lucky she might end up killing/hurting someone or even herself.
Peace and love
I have read her statement and see nothing even close to what you are saying was said. Darkcat you live in an alternate reality. Shame on you and the BDN for continuing to drag this woman’s name through the mud. I feel very sorry for you darkcat and I hope you get help for your delusional, inadequacy and anger issues.