A woman charged with felony drunken driving and released from custody on Soberlink now faces more felony charges.
Debra J. Bechard, 60, a former Waupaca resident now living in Richland Center, was charged with four counts of felony bail jumping within a 30-day period.
On May 22, Bechard was charged with a fifth OWI. She was released on a $2,000 signature bond with the condition that she comply with the Soberlink program and not consume alcohol.
The Soberlink program requires people on bail or probation to blow into a monitoring device that is linked to the Internet. The testing is usually done according to a schedule, and if alcohol is detected or a scheduled breath test is missed, law enforcement is notified.
On July 17, Soberlink indicated Bechard tested positive with a 0.059 alcohol level, according to the criminal complaint. She was prompted to be tested five more times, but missed her tests.
Bechard reportedly told Sgt. Michael DeSantis, with the Waupaca County jail, that she was getting errors and was not going to stay up all night and keep testing.
She again tested positive on July 21, Aug. 15 and Aug. 18, the complaint says.
On Aug. 25, Bechard appeared before Judge Vicki Clussman on the felony bail jumping charges. Clussman set a $3,000 cash bail as a condition of Bechard’s release from custody with the condition that she maintain absolute sobriety.