House escape

A Chico woman was convicted July 10 on charges of felony escape after she slipped off her GPS ankle monitor while on home incarceration at a local clean-and-sober-living house. According to a press release from the Butte Count District Attorney’s Office, Samantha Josephine Abernathy (pictured), 26, removed the monitor March 1 and then left the residence.

The device was discovered by a house manager and reported to the Butte County Sheriff’s Alternative Custody Supervision (ACS) program. Abernathy returned a few hours later, was greeted by sheriff’s deputies and charged with felony escape. She was serving a three-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance for sale.

Abernathy is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 6 and faces up to five years in state prison.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey said 30 inmates have escaped from the county’s ACS program since it was put in place in January 2012 to help comply with AB 109, the prisoner realignment bill. Twenty of those escapees are now serving time in state prison; the other 10 are awaiting sentencing.