Hernando Beach fire official arrested on 3rd DUI charge

WEEKI WACHEE — A district chief with the Hernando Beach Volunteer Fire Department was arrested Monday evening and charged with his third DUI.

John Rovello, 57, has twice before been convicted of a DUI — once in 1990 and again in 1995. After Monday's arrest he was held in the Hernando County jail, and his bail was set at $5,000.

Chief Steve Knowlton, who indicated Rovello had never shown signs of alcohol abuse, said he and his assistant chief will decide what action the department will take in response to the arrest. Rovello, like all members of the department, is a volunteer and does not receive pay.

An employee at the CVS near Cortez Boulevard and Commercial Way first told authorities an intoxicated driver, later identified as Rovello, had gone through the pharmacy drive-through. Soon after, Hernando Sheriff's deputies said they saw Rovello driving erratically and nearly hitting two other vehicles as he pulled into the Weeki Wachee Village Plaza on Cortez Boulevard.

A report says Rovello was uncooperative after deputies pulled him over. He failed several sobriety tests before refusing to continue or to give a breath sample at the jail.