Caroline Biden, niece of President-elect Joe Biden, was sentenced to six months of probation after pleading guilty to a DUI in Pennsylvania, Montgomery County court records showed. According to the records, Ms Biden will also pay a total of $1,990 in fines and spend 20 days in rehab after crashing her car into a tree in 2019 while being under the influence of carisoprodol, lorazepam, and other drugs, at least some of them being controlled substances. She also got her driving licence suspended for one year.
At the same time, the judge dropped charges of careless driving and driving without a licence after the officer who busted her failed to find one on her after the crash.
"She will be on probation […] Should she then violate or break the law at any time, then she will be on the hook for the rest of the sentence", the Montgomery County district attorney's spokeswoman, Kate Delano, said.
The probation of up to six months without any jail time is standard practice for a person's first DUI if the level of a substance found in the offender's blood is relatively low, as was the case with Caroline Biden.
In the past, she has managed to avoid harsh sentences on more serious charges. She was accused of assaulting a New York police officer and resisting arrest after law enforcement arrived to break up a major spat between Caroline Biden and her roommate over unpaid rent in 2013. The case was ultimately dismissed
Caroline Biden was also charged with spending over $110,000 using a stolen credit card in 2017. She went on a shopping spree at an upmarket pharmacy using an unidentified victim's card and was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to reimburse the money she spent.