A woman in Marengo, Illinois, was sentenced for her fifth DUI just a few weeks ago. Shockingly, while serving her time behind bars, she was sentenced again for the exact same charge. This overlapping, however, is not new for her, who has been described as a serial DUI offender.
According to a press release issued by the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office, the incident took place on January 4, 2026. At around 7:20 p.m., Marengo Fire Department staff observed a yellow Hummer cross onto oncoming traffic, veer into a ditch, hit a water shut-off pipe, and finally come to a stop at a Taco Bell parking lot.
A responding Marengo Police Department officer made contact with the driver, later identified as 62-year-old Kathie L. Zaremba. A very evident alcohol odor was picked up by the officer, and he observed that Zaremba had “red, glossy eyes and slurred speech.”
Zaremba, who displayed signs of impairment, was arrested at the time. Then, after securing a search warrant, her blood was drawn, and her blood alcohol content came back .150, twice the state’s legal driving limit.
Sentence After Sentence
On May 20, 2026, Kathie L. Zaremba was sentenced to 12.5 years in the Department of Corrections. She had pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence. This is a Class X felony that could’ve landed her behind bars for 30 years at the most.
This charge, in particular, is easily explained. As reported by Shaw Local, Zaremba, at the time of the incident mentioned above, was on pretrial release and in the DUI court program for a previous DUI charge. But things are way more complicated than that.
As per the Lake & McHenry County Scanner, Zarembo was actually on pretrial release on two different DUI cases. On March 15, 2024, she was arrested on a DUI charge in Marengo, and three days later, after being released from custody, she was involved in a major crash in Crystal Lake.
New and Old Convictions
In March 2026, Zaremba pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence on the March 15, 2024, case in exchange for the Crystal Lake case being dismissed. She was sentenced to seven years in prison.
It was before she pleaded guilty to the 2024 Marengo case when the latest Marengo DUI incident took place. Both the seven-year sentence and the 12.5-year sentence will run concurrently.
Shaw Local reported that her past offenses occurred over the span of decades. In Cook County, her offenses took place in 1991 and 1999. Then, she was involved in a DUI case in 2002 in DuPage County.
‘Enough Is Enough’
With this being her latest and definite DUI conviction, authorities hope Marengo streets will be a lot safer now. McHenry County State’s Attorney Randi L. Freese, in particular, had had enough with Zaremba’s continued instances of driving under the influence.
“Enough is enough,” he said. “Over and over again, this person continued to endanger innocent people on our roadways. Despite multiple prior DUI convictions, prior accidents, Ms. Zaremba continued to drive drunk.”
Freese added that Zaremba’s conviction shows the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office’s commitment to holding repeat DUI offenders accountable. In her case, as per Shaw Local, she will be required to serve half of each of her sentences before a three-year-long mandatory supervised release.