Runaway Bride Checks Into Treatment Program

Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks has checked herself into an inpatient medical treatment program to deal with “physical and mental issues” that drove her to skip town just days before her wedding, a spokesman for her family’s church said Tuesday.

The news about the treatment came as more details about Wilbanks’ previous brushes with the law emerged. She was charged with shoplifting on three occasions in the 1990s, including one case in which she allegedly swiped $1,740 in merchandise from a mall, according to court records. That felony charge was dropped after Wilbanks, then 24, completed community service and paid restitution, court records show.

Wilbanks served two weekends in jail after pleading guilty to shoplifting $98 in merchandise from a store in 1998, according to court records. And in 1996, she was charged with misdemeanor shoplifting for allegedly taking $37 in merchandise from a Wal-Mart in Gainesville, Ga. That case was dismissed after Wilbanks completed a counseling program for shoplifters, court records show.

Sammy Smith, a spokesman for Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville, said Wilbanks entered the program Monday. He said the location of the treatment center would not be disclosed and he would not provide more details on the treatment.

Prosecutors are still considering whether to press charges against Wilbanks for making false statements to authorities.