Minnesota woman labeled one of country's worst DUI offenders

(KMSP) - A woman from New Hope, Minnesota, has been named one of the country's worst DUI offenders, according the police chief in Riverside, Illinois.

Around 9:27 a.m. Monday, Riverside police received a 911 call reporting a woman was passed out behind the wheel of her car at a gas station.

When officers arrived, the woman was alert and conscious, sitting in her car with the keys in the ignition and car running. According to police, it looked as if she tried to fill her 2005 Nissan Maxima with kerosene, not gasoline.

Officers immediately noticed she was highly intoxicated and spotted an open liquor bottle in the front passenger seat. Witnesses said she was drinking from the bottle before officers arrived.

Police asked her to step out of the car and noted she was "in total disarray, not wearing shoes, and her clothes were literally falling off her."

The woman, identified as 41-year-old Tasha Lynn Schleicher, told police she had 11 children and couldn't find them. Witnesses said there were no children present at any time, but Schleicher continued to insist she had children with her.

After she refused to perform a field sobriety test, she was placed under arrest and brought to the station. Police scanned her fingerprint, which revealed her revoked driver's license and outstanding warrants from three states.

Schleicher had been charged with two counts of felony aggravated drunk driving, two counts of misdemeanor drunk driving, no vehicle insurance, driving with a revoked license and transportation of open alcohol while driving.

She had six prior DUI arrests out of six states: Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana, Oregon, California and Minnesota. She was also wanted on three out-of-state warrants: Nebraska for violation of court order, Idaho for failure to appear for a prior drunk driving charge and Oregon for failure to appear on a prior drunk driving arrest.

Schleicher could not explain why she was in Illinois and continued to insist she was with her children. Police confirmed with Minnesota Child Protective Services that her children had been taken away from her due to the prior DUI arrest in Minnesota in 2017.

During the incident in Minnesota, Schleicher was arrested with children in the car and alleged to have been breastfeeding one child while driving intoxicated, according to Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel.

While in custody, Schleicher told officers she was pregnant and having a miscarriage. She was transported to the hospital, where they found her statement to be false.

Chief Weitzel personally called the Cook County States Attorney's Office to advise them of the arrest and relay that not only should Schleicher be held in custody, but that she "absolutely needed immediate social service intervention and professional medical attention for severe alcohol abuse."

Schleicher has 11 prior arrests in multiple states that are all DUI-related.

According to police, she uses multiple alias names, birth dates and nine separate social security numbers. When arrested, she gave a fictitious name and was only identified through her fingerprints.