'One of the worst DUI offenders in the US' arrested with liquor bottle in passenger seat

Tasha L. Schleicher, 41, was arrested in Illinois after police found her highly intoxicated. (Riverside Police Department)

A woman police described as “one of the worst DUI offenders in the United States” was arrested again in Illinois on Monday and found with a liquor bottle in the passenger seat.

Tasha L. Schleicher, 41, was arrested after police received a 911 call of a woman passed out behind the wheel at a gas station in Riverside, WLS-TV reported on Wednesday. Officers found the Minnesota native alert and conscious, but highly intoxicated with a strong smell of alcohol in her breath, police said.

An open bottle of Crown Royal Liquor was found in the passenger seat and a whiskey flask in the console of the vehicle and the car’s engine was also running, police said.


“[Schleicher was] in total disarray, not wearing shoes, and her clothes were literally falling off her," police said.



The mother of 11 — who was arrested for driving under the influence at least six other times — was taken into custody when she refused to take a sobriety test, according to WLS-TV.

She had told police she was looking for her children, but witnesses told officers that Schleicher was by herself at the gas station, the station reported.

Schleicher then told officers she was dropping off her 15-year-old son at an unidentified place so he could “party in Indiana over spring break,” Riverside police Chief Thomas Weitzel told WLS-TV.

She was taken to the hospital after she claimed she was pregnant and bleeding due to a miscarriage. Police found she was lying, according to WLS-TV.

“She’s lied about her name, date of birth, Social Security number and even that she was pregnant, leaving officers no choice but to take her to the emergency room for treatment for something completely fictitious. I believe her trip to the hospital was really an attempt by her to escape custody," Weitzel said.

Police were working to locate the teenage boy.

Schleicher has DUI arrests in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana, California, Oregon and Minnesota, along with three outstanding warrants because she wouldn’t show up to scheduled court dates, police said. She was once arrested in Minnesota while children were in the car, and was also allegedly breastfeeding one of her children while driving intoxicated, Weitzel said.

Schleicher was charged with two count of felony aggravated drunk driving, two counts of misdemeanor drunk driving, no vehicle insurance, driving while license revoked (for DUI), and transportation of open alcohol while driving.

 

She should attend alcohol rehab, then be trained for a job with taxpayer funded cdl school.