Lt. facing charge of DUI

Prosecutors formally filed a DUI charge Friday against a former harbor master of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach.

Lt. Erin Giudice, 48, was charged Friday with a misdemeanor DUI and a misdemeanor of having a blood-alcohol level of .08 or more.

Giudice worked in the sheriff department’s Harbor Patrol office for years before being promoted earlier this year to the top position as Harbor Master. She had been in the office for only a few weeks before she was involved in a car crash on northbound Jamboree Road at the 5 Freeway. Prosecutors said Giudice was driving on Jamboree Road about 9 p.m. April 14 when she rear-ended another car stopped at a red light. The other driver was not injured and the car suffered only minor damage, authorities said.

When police arrived, prosecutors said Giudice showed signs of intoxication including slurred speech, bloodshot and watery eyes and poor balance. Two hours after the crash, prosecutors said her blood-alcohol registered in at .14.

Giudice is a 22-year veteran with the sheriff’s department. Following her DUI arrest she was reassigned from her top position with the Harbor Patrol to a position at the Theo Lacy Facility, one of Orange County’s jails.

Giudice faces up to six months in jail if convicted. She’s scheduled to be arraigned June 19.