'Worst DUI Offender In Country' Arrested In Riverside: Chief

RIVERSIDE, IL — Riverside police arrested the "worst DUI offender in the United States" on Monday, Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said. Police received a phone call at 9:27 p.m. Monday, April 2, reporting a woman who had passed out behind the wheel at a gas station in the 3300 block of South Harlem. Police said when officers arrived the woman was alert, in control of the vehicle and had the engine running. Officers said it looked as if the woman, identified as Tasha Schleicher, 41, of Minnesota, had attempted to fill her car with kerosene, not gasoline, at the kerosene pump.

Police said they saw immediately that Schleicher was intoxicated and had bloodshot, glassy eyes, and smelled of alcohol. Officers could also see an open bottle of Crown Royal liquor in the front passenger seat of the car, and witnesses told police she was drinking from the bottle before officers arrived.

When officers asked Schleicher to step out of the car, she wasn't wearing shoes and her clothes were falling off of her. Police said Schleicher told officers she had 11 children, and she couldn't find them. Officers searched the area for her children, but couldn't find anyone. Witnesses also told police that Schleicher was the only one in the car, and there were no children with her.

Police said Schleicher was asked to perform field sobriety testing, and she refused. She was placed under arrest for drunk driving. Schleicher gave a false name to officers and when she was at the police station, she was fingerprinted and identified. Her fingerprints also revealed she had a revoked driver's license and had outstanding warrants in three states. Police learned Schleicher also uses multiple alias names, dates of birth and nine separate social security numbers.

Schleicher could not explain why she was in Illinois, and continued to tell police she was with her children. Police said they contacted New Hope Police Department in Minnesota to try and verify that the children were not in Illinois. Police were able to confirm with Minnesota Child Protective Services that her children had been taken away from her due to a prior DUI arrest in October 2017.

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

According to police, Schleicher has six prior DUI arrests in six states. She was arrested in Kentucky in December 2007; Wisconsin in November 2008; Indiana in June 2016; California in November 2016; Oregon in April 2017; and Minnesota in October 2017. She also has three warrants: one in Nebraska, one in Idaho and one in Oregon.

“Ms. Schleicher was arrested by Riverside Police for aggravated drunk driving based on her prior DUI driving history. This is one of the worst impaired driving arrests our agency has ever made," Weitzel said in a release. "Schleicher's history of six prior DUIs in six states, with three outstanding warrants from various states speaks to her transient nature. When she was arrested in a state, she would just not show up in court unless she was held in custody."

While in custody, Schleicher also told police she was pregnant and having a miscarriage. Police said she was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, and was given a pregnancy test and found there was no medical condition and she was not pregnant.

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

Photos provided by Riverside Police Department.