ROGERSVILLE — The Hawkins County woman who led Rogersville Police Chief Doug Nelson on a foot chase through downtown Rogersville last week may be placed on probation again if she completes an in-patient drug rehab program.
Ashley Ann Russell, 22, 5985 Route 66-N, Rogersville, was charged with forgery and resisting arrest Wednesday morning after allegedly attempting to cash a check, stolen from her mother, at the downtown Rogersville branch of Capital Bank.
The bank called police, and Nelson arrived as Russell was exiting the bank. Nelson reportedly chased her on foot several blocks around downtown Rogersville before tackling her behind the Hale Springs Inn.
At the time of her arrest, Russell was wanted on a probation violation warrant out of Hawkins County because she hadn’t reported to her probation officer since April.
Russell appeared in court before Judge John Dugger on Monday and told him that around that same time she lost her job, lost her car and lost custody of her 3-year-old child.
Dugger noted that according to records, after being released on probation in October Russell had done well keeping up the requirements of her probation. She was serving two years for forgery and perjury convictions that occurred in June.
Russell told the judge that around April she became addicted to morphine.
“You have to leave all your drug buddies behind,” Dugger told Russell in court. “They’re like an anchor chained to your foot when your trying to swim across the lake.”
Russell told the court she wanted to clean up and get back custody of her child.
“You need to get a handle on this while your child is too young to remember,” Dugger said. “Your child is going to begin school, and you’re not going to be around to see it because you’ll be sitting over here wearing orange. Don’t put him in that situation where he’s going to be teased by the other children because his mother is a druggie locked up in jail.”
Dugger revoked Russell’s probation but also directed the Public Defender’s officer to get Russell signed up for an in-patient rehab program. Dugger said if Russell completes the program she may receive probation again, but she’ll have to wait in jail for an indeterminate amount of time until a rehab bed opens up.
Russell made headlines after a June 3, 2011, criminal court appearance in which she falsely testified before Dugger that she was pregnant.
She had pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery before Dugger and was sentenced to one year in prison. While the judge was considering a motion to grant probation, however, Russell testified that she was seven weeks pregnant.
After being granted probation, Russell was taken back to jail to begin the process of being booked out of jail. During that time, Russell reportedly began bragging to cell mates about lying to the court, and word of that quickly made it to jail management.
A quick check revealed that Russell had been in jail for 11 weeks, making her seven-week pregnancy unlikely. An examination by a jail nurse revealed that she was not pregnant.
Dugger then reversed his decision, and Russell was subsequently sentenced to an extra year in jail for perjury.