BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A woman on probation for burglary and petit theft was sentenced to a year in prison after admitting to driving without a valid license, triggering both a criminal felony conviction and a violation of her probation.
Gretchin Dianna Crews was first arrested on January 4, 2023, after witnesses told Starke Police they saw her running in and out of traffic from McDonald’s to Bradford Square.
According to an arrest report, a Bradford deputy told police he saw a car nearly strike the defendant and that after the near collision, Crews entered an unlocked vehicle parked in front of Harbor Freight, grabbed cigarettes that were in the car, and tried to start the vehicle.
The car’s owner told police he did not know the defendant and did not give her permission to enter the car.
Six months later, the defendant signed a plea agreement admitting to the burglary and theft of the cigarettes. She was sentenced to two years’ probation.
On September 26, 2024, Crews, who did not have a valid driver’s license, crashed a vehicle into a semi-tractor trailer.
According to a probation violation report, the defendant claimed she had just left Walmart after buying supplies as Hurricane Helene approached the area. After leaving the store, she hit a grease puddle, lost control of her car, and hit the truck.
Mother pleads for leniency
During a hearing on December 10, 2024, the defendant’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Eddie Edwards, told Circuit Judge James Colaw that his client’s probation officer recommended 30 days of weekend jail for the violation. Edwards added that once Crews found out about her arrest warrant arising from the violation, she turned herself in.
“This was not someone who was trying to duck and dodge the court,” Edwards said. “She’s here today to try and get this all resolved and accept whatever the court gives her. We’re asking for leniency.”
The defendant’s mother, Sandra Crews, also asked the judge for leniency.
“She was in rehab for like six months this past year and is doing well,” the defendant’s mother told the judge. “She’s done her best. She’s tried to have a job even though she has to have transportation provided, and during the hurricane, I mean, I wasn’t able to help her at that time either because I had other things too for myself.”
Christina Boyd, who said she is a friend of the defendant, also addressed the judge on Crews’s behalf.
“She tried to contact me during the hurricane to get her a ride,” Boyd said of her friend. “She needed water and dog food. She had a new puppy. I was out getting sandbags. We were all really petrified about the hurricane because it was supposed to hit dead in the middle of Bradford County.”
Boyd added that Crews had maintained a steady job, is working on getting her driver’s license back, and has been assisting her mother in caring for a disabled grandchild.
Crews told Colaw that she understood that whatever he sentenced her to was what she had earned. She added that she is close to getting her license back, having paid all her tickets except for the latest.
“Everything is done,” she told Colaw. “I have no problem getting my driver’s license back. All I have to do is take some classes, and then that would be it. And so, I just think that I would be better off on probation, and getting my driver’s license as part of my probation would be no problem. But like I said, I do understand that whatever I received today is obviously what I deserve.”
Two violations, five felonies, and more
Assistant State Attorney Scott LaPeer told the judge that, according to a criminal scoresheet, Crews could be sentenced to five years.
Colaw pointed out to the defendant that this was her second probation violation and her fifth felony driving conviction.
“You have another five or six other misdemeanors (driving convictions), and then you have some other history as well,” he said to Crews. “I’m not sure I’d be doing you any favors by constructing a sentence that has you on— you’re already on (probation) for three years or more. It would be a sentence (that would) have you on for five years of supervision with some of that having to be converted to house arrest.”
“I think the best thing is just to close your case out,” he continued, adding that he was sentencing her to one year and one day in state prison with credit for 74 days already served in jail.
“You should be eligible for gain time,” he told her. “So if you maximize your gain time with the Department of Corrections, it leaves you with right around eight months. And then once you serve the eight months, the case is closed, it’s in the rearview mirror, and then you can go do the things you need to do in terms of getting your license back and trying to get out of this hole.”
Crews appeared happy with the resolution, flashing a smile and giving her supporters a thumbs-up as she walked out of the courtroom.
