Florissant Man Accused of DWI Was Driving While Revoked

A Florissant man, who is accused of leading police on a high-speed chase while driving drunk Jan. 10, not only was on parole at the time but was driving with a revoked license.

Paul Allen Tripp, 28, of the 1300 block of Flicker Drive, pleaded guilty April 30 to driving while revoked.

At the time, Tripp was on parole after being sentenced in February 2012 to two years in prison for abandoning a woman’s body after she died from a heroin overdose.

Tripp dumped a woman, The medical examiner said Butler died of acute heroin intoxication.

He also was sentenced in 2011 to five years in prison for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. He was given a suspended sentence, but his probation was revoked in 2011 and he served 13 months in prison on the drug and abandoning a corpse charges.

Tripp now is serving those two sentences in the Moberly Correctional Center.

On Jan. 10, Tripp led Pine Lawn Police on a chase that reached 130 mph, going from Interstate 70 to I-270 and then to I-370 before he crashed in a farm field in Hazelwood at Aubuchon and Missouri Bottom roads. The area is not far from the spot where he abandoned Butler’s body.

On the driving while revoked charge, Tripp was sentenced April 30 to two days in prison and was given credit for time served.

He still faces a charge of DWI as an aggravated offender and resisting arrest, creating a substantial risk of injury or death. Tripp has three previous alcohol-related driving charges.

For more crime information on Florissant Patch, see the following articles:

• Paul Tripp Sentenced to Two Years in Valerie Butler Case
• Probation Revoked for Florissant Man
• Body Identified as Valerie Butler