Woman Released in Auto Death May Be Jailed Again : Justice: San Diego Coutny sheriff is checking her reported trip to mall while under electronic surveillance.

An 18-year-old Lakeside woman who served 31 days of a yearlong sentence for driving drunk and killing a bicyclist “will be arrested and brought back into custody” if it is determined that she violated probation, the supervisor in charge of her case said Wednesday.

A San Diego County sheriff’s detective was assigned Wednesday to investigate allegations that Renee Reid was spotted in a mall last month, shortly after her release from the County Jail at Las Colinas to a home electronic surveillance program.

Law-enforcement sources conceded Wednesday that Reid’s case was handled differently from others. A jail captain who normally does not handle such matters made the decision to release Reid, they said.

Male inmates, as a matter of policy, must serve at least half their jail time before they can be assigned to home surveillance. A different agency decides on the release of female inmates.

But, when the state prosecutors who tried Reid’s case tried Wednesday to discuss the unusual early release with Sheriff Jim Roache, they were rebuffed.

Reid, whose father is a senior investigator for the county district attorney’s office, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and was sentenced the day before Thanksgiving. She entered jail Jan. 17 and was released Feb. 18.

The widow of Phillip Cramer, 34, learned that Reid was out of jail after making a speech March 11 to the girl’s former classmates at El Capitan High School. A schoolmate of Reid’s told a representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving accompanying Cramer that she had seen the girl at a local mall. The news shocked Lori Cramer, 31, who has a 7-year-old son.

Cramer and Bonnie Helander, a MADD volunteer, said Wednesday that they had talked to the student, who was sticking to her story.

However, the student was reluctant to be identified because Reid, who was graduated from the school last year, was extremely popular. The student was afraid that her information might land the woman back in jail.

The student, Cramer said, “is trying to determine the exact date of when she saw (Reid) but is sure that she saw her.”

Reid’s electronic surveillance permits her to visit a doctor and a dentist. Dick Ariessohn, supervisor of the correctional counselors who are overseeing Reid’s case, said an investigation into the matter may be completed by today.

So far, he said, Reid has traveled with her mother only to medical appointments. Reid requires extensive surgery after the accident, which knocked out her bottom teeth.

Her dentist has an office near Parkway Plaza Shopping Center in El Cajon, which Ariessohn said may explain why the fellow student may have seen Reid.

But Ariessohn said that, if a detective determines that Reid violated her agreement without a medical appointment, “we will have her arrested and brought back into custody.”

The story of Reid’s early release has provoked a public outcry, as callers to radio talk shows in San Diego and Los Angeles have expressed outrage over her 31-day jail term. On Wednesday, about 50 angry callers telephoned the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

“Most people who called are upset that someone can drive drunk and kill someone and not be in jail,” sheriff’s spokesman Glenn Ravell said. “You can understand someone being angry. For a crime that could cost you 10 years, you get one-tenth of that and then you do one month and a day in jail.”

On Wednesday, Roache declined to meet with the state attorney general’s office, which prosecuted Reid because of her father’s position with the county district attorney’s office. Prosecutors had asked for the meeting with Roache and a representative of the district attorney’s office to resolve the matter.

“The sheriff made it clear that this decision resides within his department,” said Gary Schons, head of the San Diego office.

The Sheriff’s Department has jurisdiction over all probation cases involving women, but the county Probation Department handles male offenders.

Men convicted of crimes are required to serve at least half their term before being considered for the electronic surveillance program unless specifically ordered by a judge, county probation officials said Wednesday.

The Sheriff’s Department has no such requirement and officials there say Reid’s case is not unusual, although they cannot cite another case in which someone convicted of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence has been permitted to leave jail so early.

Callers to several radio shows inquired as to whether Reid’s father had prompted her release.

Earlier this week, Capt. Benny McLaughlin said he did not meet Reid’s father, Frank, until after his daughter was incarcerated and he stopped by to give her money. He said Frank Reid did not ask him to release his daughter but McLaughlin suggested that it helped that she came from a “good family.”

Ariessohn said McLaughlin alone made the decision to release her, which is not normal procedure. Usually, he said, the inmate’s immediate correctional counselor makes the call and the jail captain is not involved.

McLaughlin “had talked to the medical staff and wanted her out,” Ariessohn said. “He said to me, ‘She comes from a good family.’ I don’t know if he knew the family or not.”

Despite the unusual arrangement, Ariessohn said, he and Julie Tuckett, the supervisor, agree with McLaughlin’s decision.

“It was not inappropriate for this girl, who comes from a good home, and who is young and impressionable to serve 31 days,” he said. “She didn’t do real well in jail. It was not a good experience for her. For some people, one day is too much. I can tell you one thing. That 30 days was hell on that kid.”

Reid’s probation report, which was given to the judge before sentencing, recommended 30 days in jail.

In an interview this week, Sheriff Roache said Reid’s release was a byproduct of a crowded jail situation. The county is under a court order to relieve crowding, although the women’s jail is not now over capacity.

What had been done with Reid thus far “is consistent with established procedures,” Roache said. “It’s a sad affair, but it’s not unusual in the criminal justice system today.”