OCALA, Fla. – The trouble keeps adding up for an elderly driver who served a jail sentence for DUI with property damage, and another for probation violations.
Robert Arthur Cordes, 93 then and 94 now, hit another car in the parking lot of a Burger King in Florida, back on May 23, 2024.
“When speaking with him, I could smell the odor of alcohol emitting from Cordes,” a cop at the scene wrote.
“[The other driver] then saw the Honda coming towards him from the Murphy’s Oil parking lot,” the arrest report said. “The Honda struck a raised curb before striking the right rear of the Ford.”
Then, the officer wrote, “I asked Cordes if he could tell me what happened.
“Cordes said he had no idea how he got to where he was.
“He said he wasn’t aware that he hit anything.
“I informed him that he had, in fact, hit a parked vehicle, to which he denied having done so.”
Cordes wasn’t alone.
His passenger, the arrest report said, “tried turning the car off, as Cordes had been drinking.
“When [the passenger] did this, Cordes hit the gas and drove the vehicle forward, jumping the curb and then striking the parked Ford.
“I asked him where the beer was,“ the officer wrote, “and he directed me to a small raised section of the Murphy’s Oil parking lot. He said Cordes had thrown them out of the window when he finished drinking them.“
Cordes was charged with DUI with property damage and he spent three days in jail before his release in lieu of $500 bond.
On July 1, he took a plea deal and was sentenced to four days in jail with credit for four days served, a year of probation, 50 hours of community service, and $1,208.58 in fines.
Since then, his problems snowballed.
Violation of Probation Affidavit, Aug. 29, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
Cordes violated his probation in just a few weeks. Records show he screened positive for alcohol on July 17 and again on Aug. 15, plus he failed to report for a scheduled appointment on Aug. 26.
On Sept. 5, a judge issued an arrest warrant, and that was served on Sept. 17.
Cordes was locked up for a month and a half, until he went to court and “admitted violation,” the report said. He was sentenced to 49 days in jail with credit for time served, and his probation was reinstated.
That still wasn’t the end of Cordes’ record.
On the day of his crash, his license was suspended for six months. Then, when he was sentenced, his license was revoked for another 180 days. Revocation in Florida can be temporary.
But Cordes was back on the road and caught driving with a suspended or revoked license twice in 2025.
Fla. Uniform Traffic Citation issued Jan. 19, 2025 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
The citation he got on Jan. 19 said he was “stopped for broken tail lights,” and Cordes’ driving record showed his license was canceled indefinitely.
In court on Jan. 30, he pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor, and a trial was scheduled for mid-March.
Fla. Uniform Traffic Citation issued Feb. 11, 2025 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
The citation Cordes got on Feb. 11 did not have a reason for the traffic stop, but he pleaded not guilty on Feb. 27 and a trial was scheduled for late April.
Since then, the January traffic stop caught up with Cordes.
Violation of Probation Affidavit, Feb. 16, 2025 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
It took until mid-February but that citation helped trigger a probation violation from his original DUI charge. On Feb. 26, he was arrested on a warrant and he spent 28 more hours locked up.
A check of his driving record showed he has already been to traffic school twice: for failure to yield right-of-way in 2016, and failure to stop for a school bus in 2018.
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