A Fergus Falls, Minn., man was sentenced Wednesday for his 23rd DWI arrest to one year in the Becker County (Minn.) Jail.

Danny Lee Bettcher pled guilty to one count of aggravated DWI and one count of failing to provide proof of insurance.

Judge William Walker gave Bettcher the maximum DWI penalty - one year in jail, with 90 days suspended, and a $3,000 fine.

�The Legislature enacted a statute providing this crime�s maximum penalty ... and it�s my job to enforce that law,� said Detroit Lakes (Minn.) City Prosecutor Karen Skoyles.

�That�s the most I can do unless they change the law.�

A failed bill proposed in the Minnesota Legislature this spring would have made repeat drunken driving a felony offense.

Bettcher was arrested in Detroit Lakes April 27 after he tried to pull away from a gas pump with the nozzle still in his gas tank and ripped the hose off.

He went into the gas station to pay for the pump when the attendant noticed the smell of alcohol and called police.

After arresting Bettcher, officers found he had accumulated 22 DWIs under about five different aliases since the early 1980s.

Bettcher�s license has been revoked several times, for periods of years at a time. The state of Minnesota officially took away Bettcher�s license in the mid-1980s.

Skoyles said Bettcher claims to still be employed as an industrial engineer in Fergus Falls, and is authorized for work release if the court can confirm that employment.

Bettcher also received a $700 fine and 90 days in jail for failing to provide proof of insurance, which is to be served consecutively with his DWI sentence.