By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater woman, who allegedly told a police officer she usually runs the red light at 9th and Duck Street, has been ordered to appear in court on May 28 for arraignment on her fifth drunk driving charge.
Michelle Leigh Mauk, 37, was released from the Payne County Jail on May 7 on $50,000 bond with a condition set by Special District Judge Michael Kulling that she not operate a vehicle, court records show.
Mauk, who has also been known by the surname of Brown, was arrested at 10:03 p.m. on May 5 by Stillwater Police Officer Daryle Gee, who said he was in his patrol car stopped for a red light at 9th Avenue and Duck Street when he saw a car run through the red light and continue south on Duck Street, his affidavit alleged.
“The vehicle turned eastbound on 12th Avenue and then south into a private driveway,” before stopping in front of the front porch of the Stillwater Girls Inc. building,” the affidavit alleged. When the officer walked up to explain why he had stopped Mauk, “The driver stated she hated that light and usually runs it,” the affidavit alleged.
After issuing Mauk a citation for the red light, “I started to walk away from the vehicle and Mauk stated she had never had a speeding ticket before and then stated she was going to remain sitting there until I moved my vehicle,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“I got back into my vehicle and Mauk pulled forward onto the front porch of the building and stopped. Mauk then went forward some more and I thought she was going to hit the building. She then put her vehicle in reverse and backed off of the porch striking a post on the porch and some railing.
“She continued in reverse and I started honking my horn to get her to stop before she backed into the front of my vehicle. I put my vehicle in reverse and backed up before she ran into me,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“I got out of my vehicle and approached Mauk. I told her to get out of the vehicle, and when she did I noticed her balance was unstable. She walked up and tried to fix the damage to the porch and when she walked back toward me, I noticed she had unstable balance. I asked Mauk if she had been drinking and she told me she hadn’t,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
According to court records and the state Department of Corrections, Mauk had previously been convicted of:
* drunk driving in 2004 in Stillwater, for which she was initially given a five-year deferred sentence in 2005 that was changed in 2010 to a five-year suspended sentence for a probation violation;
* actual physical control while under the influence of alcohol and child endangerment in 2014 in Stillwater, for which she was given concurrent suspended sentences of 10 years and four years in 2016, with an order to enroll in and successfully complete the Payne County Drug Court program, but her probation was revoked in 2018 to 1,420 days in prison where she completed a six-month Regimented Treatment Program prior to her release in September of 2019;
* child endangerment and drunk driving as a subsequent offense in 2015 in Payne County, for which she was given concurrent suspended sentences of four years and one year in 2016 with Drug Court, after which her probation was revoked as above in 2018 with the same conditions;
* first-degree burglary in 2015 in Stillwater, for which she was given a 10-year suspended sentence with Drug Court, after which her probation was revoked as above in 2018 with the same conditions;
* drunk driving in 2015 in Drumright in Creek County, for which she was given a 10-year suspended sentence in 2015.
If convicted of her fifth drunk driving charge, Mauk could be given a prison term of one to 20 years plus a $5,000 fine. If convicted of a misdemeanor count of transporting an opened container of an intoxicating beverage in a moving vehicle, Mauk could be given a six-month jail term plus a $500 fine.
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