Officer loses license after DUI arrest

A Costa Mesa man who resigned as an Anaheim police officer last week following news of his third DUI arrest in a year has a suspended driver’s license, officials with the Department of Motor Vehicles said Tuesday.

Kevin Noel Schlueter, 37, had his license suspended March 17, two weeks after his third arrest for allegedly driving under the influence of prescription drugs, DMV officials said.

Schlueter was an Anaheim police officer until he resigned March 23. He had been on administrative leave for more than a year, during which he was arrested three times, Anaheim police officials said. He’s pleaded not guilty to all three incidents, which span from March 18, 2009, to March 2 of this year. There was no indication about why his license had not been suspended after the first two arrests, officials said.

Schlueter’s most recent arrest came March 2 in Costa Mesa, when, prosecutors said, he crashed into four parked cars. Authorities said he was under the influence of the appetite suppressant phentermine, the muscle relaxant carisoprodol and the pain-suppressant oxycodone.

Authorities claim Schlueter was under the influence less than two months earlier when he allegedly crashed into the backyard of a Huntington Beach home Jan. 21. He waited in his car for police to arrest him, prosecutors said.

On March 18, 2009, he was arrested on the 405 Freeway in Westminster after nearly hitting a California Highway Patrol officer observing his driving, authorities said.