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NG man gets 5 years for 6th, 7th OWIs
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MONROE - A New Glarus man with five convictions of drunken driving on his record was sentenced Oct. 31 for two more.

Mark Allen Steiner, 58, pleaded no contest to the sixth- and seventh-offense charges of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Green County Circuit Court Judge James Beer ordered Steiner to spend five years in prison for the Class F and Class G felony convictions, followed by five years on extended supervision. Steiner's driver's license is revoked four years.

The convictions stem from two incidents just this year, according to court records.

On April 25, an officer stopped Steiner on Wisconsin 69 in New Glarus for having an expired vehicle registration. While speaking with Steiner, the officer noticed that Steiner had a half-empty can of beer in the vehicle and smelled strongly of alcohol.

Steiner claimed to have had only "a couple" beers before driving, but a preliminary breath test showed his blood-alcohol content, at .126 percent, was well over the legal limit for driving.

He was arrested for sixth offense OWI and later released on a $5,000 surety bond with the conditions that he not drive or drink.

But about two months later, on July 2, Steiner was back behind the wheel.

Police report he rear-ended another vehicle at the intersection of Wis. 69 and 6th Avenue in New Glarus. Neither driver was injured, but Steiner appeared visibly intoxicated.

A breathalyzer test at the scene showed Steiner had a blood-alcohol content of .302 percent, nearly four times the legal limit.

State court records show Steiner has a history of OWI offenses going back to 1990.

In 1998, Judge Beer sentenced him to 60 days in jail for a fourth-offense OWI conviction, a misdemeanor.

In 2004, a Crawford County judge sentenced Steiner to two years in prison and two years on extended supervision for his fifth-offense OWI conviction, a Class H felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of six years.

Steiner was arrested for a sixth OWI offense in 2014 after a DNR game warden checking for hunting violations in Dane County found an open beer in Steiner's pickup truck, but the charge was ultimately dismissed.

Instead, Steiner pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and a Dane County judge sentenced him the following year to one year on probation and ordered him to undergo alcohol and drug treatment.