A woman sentenced to home detention after pleading guilty to a charge of OWI-causing death has been ordered to enter a drug treatment program after Porter County Adult Probation reported in December that she failed a drug test and violated the terms of her probation, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

Alysha M. Ramos, 19, was transferred on Friday to the Women’s Recovery Home, a residential treatment program operated by Porter-Starke Services, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Bennett told the Chesterton Tribune on Monday. Ramos could spend several months in the facility, where she will continue to serve her home detention, under the terms of which she must wear an wireless ankle monitor and may leave the facility only for court-approved activities and work, Bennett said.

On leaving the Women’s Recovery Home, Bennett said, Ramos will enter a day-treatment program also run by Porter-Starke Services and her home detention will continue.

According to Adult Probation, Bennett said, Ramos tested positive for hydrocodone on a routine drug screen. Ramos herself denies having taken it and violating the terms of her probation, Bennett added.

Ramos had been held at the Porter County Jail since Dec. 11 after Adult Probation reported the violation.

A status hearing is scheduled for April 9.

In August Superior Court Judge Bill Alexa sentenced Ramos to three years of home detention and an additional two years on formal probation, after she pleaded guilty to a charge of operating while intoxicated-causing death in connection with an accident in June 2008 which took the life of 17-year-old Liberty Township resident Alisha A. Purnick.

At 5:10 a.m. Sunday, June 1, 2008 Ramos was westbound on C.R. 1400, west of C.R. 400E in Pine Township, and had just looked down to close her cell phone after completing a call when Purnick yelled at her “to pay attention to the road,” the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said at the time.

Ramos advised police that she looked up to see that she was driving off the roadway. Police said that Ramos then lost control of her vehicle, which left the roadway to the south and struck a tree on the passenger’s side. Purnick was airlifted with head injuries to St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Olympia Fields, Ill, where she died of her injuries on June 8, 2008.

Ramos registered a blood alcohol content of .16 percent on a certified test and in July 2008 was waived into adult court.

At Ramos’ sentencing hearing in August 2009 Purnick’s mother read into a record her request of Alexa to sentence Ramos to home detention.

Posted 2/2/2010