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Ferndale Driver with 53 license suspensions sentenced to 29 months behind bars

Judge lashes out at habitual traffic offender
Posted at 11:09 PM, Jan 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-23 23:09:57-05

A judge had very harsh words in an Oakland County courtroom, for a man with 53 suspensions on his driver's license. Also, she handed out a jail sentence of 29 months.

"You are a menace to the streets. I feel terrible for your mother. I'd like to let her strangle you" said Judge Cheryl Matthews today. 57 year old Jonas Smith had already been convicted of fleeing and eluding, retail fraud and driving without a license.

Smith was caught after leading Ferndale police on a high-speed chase at 100 miles an hour, in late October 2016. Given his record, he should not have been driving his 86 year old mother's Buick. 

Police say he also stole from the CVS at 9 mile and Livernois before crashing the car.
Earlier, his mother told Action News "I was trying to tell him sit down and get yourself together. After his son died, he just lost it."