Tamaqua woman faces long jail term for fourth DUI charge

A Tamaqua woman, who entered a guilty plea to her fourth driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol count last August and who faces a mandatory one to five year prison sentence managed to date to stay out of prison but is running out of options and at a hearing held Tuesday in Schuylkill County court was ordered to begin a prison sentence in June.

Kelly Joanne Knepper, 38, of 210 Hunter St., had a hearing before Judge John E. Domalakes Tuesday on a motion to modify her sentence and to grant her credit for in-patient treatment and to have the balance of her sentence served under house arrest with electronic monitoring.

The district attorney's office opposed the house arrest claiming the judge did not have jurisdiction to place her under house arrest because a fourth DUI conviction mandated a prison sentence. However, the DA did not oppose giving her credit for time served as an inpatient, which totals around seven months.

Knepper was ordered to report to the county prison on June 8 to serve the balance of her sentence with credit for time spent in three rehab centers.

Her first three arrests were all in Carbon County on May 7, 1998, April 22, 1999, and Sept. 11, 1999. Her fourth arrest was on May 24, 2008, by Patrolman Scott Cramer, Rush Township police, at the intersection of state routes 309 and 54.

When she entered the guilty plea last August she was ordered to begin her prison sentence in September 2009 but before that date Domalakes modified the sentence to permit her to continue her in-patient treatment, first at Clear Brook and then at Colonial House. After she completed treatments at both institutions she was admitted to a third facility, Clem-Mar House Inc., and that treatment time expires June 8, the date she has to report to the county prison.