OC Mother arrested for removing Ankle Monitor
An Oconee County mother who was charged with four counts of custodial interference last year was arrested Friday night on charges of removing her ankle monitor. 45-year-old Laverne Marie Bennett of 435 Canupp Circle in Westminster was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 11:46pm on May 9. According to the incident report, deputies responded to the Canupp Road address around 9:40pm last Friday in regards to an ankle monitor that had set a tamper alarm. When deputies arrived, they found no one at the residence. The officers were then advised by dispatch that the suspect, Bennett, had walked to Doyle Street and Simpson Street, she was walking into some woods, and her son was trying to keep her on the roadside. Deputies spoke with the son, who advised deputies where Bennett entered the woods. One of the deputies found Bennett, who was not wearing her ankle monitor. When asked by officers why she was not, Bennett told the deputies that she had cut it off with a kitchen knife in the backyard. “Deputies located Bennett within about 15 minutes of the monitor being cut off,” according to Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw. “We were notified immediately by the ankle monitoring company, DCT Detection and Dale Colegrove. Judge Cordell Maddox and Magistrate Todd Simmons were notified by Mr. Colegrove and she was brought back to jail where she will go back before Judge Maddox.” According to the incident report, legal authorities notified Mr. Colegrove that Bennett’s bond would be revoked. Deputies then transported Bennett to the Oconee County Detention Center where she was booked on a temporary custody order. Deputies retrieved the ankle monitor from the residence and the equipment was returned to DCT Detection. “The first few minutes in a case like this are so important,” says Sheriff Crenshaw. “Everyone worked together. The monitoring company did their job, which allowed our officers to arrive on scene in minutes and locate this individual. I also want to thank the Westminster Police Department for their assistance in the search for Laverne Bennett.” Bennett picked up her four daughters from their father’s residence over the 4th of July weekend last year and did not return them to their father on July 7 as she was scheduled to. Bennett was later found by Idaho State Police on July 13 of last year in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho near the Washington state line at a picnic table at a rest area off the interstate and was taken into custody. Bennett remained in jail in Idaho during extradition proceedings. Bennett was then booked into the Oconee County Detention Center around 11:02am on October 1 of last year after being extradited from Idaho and had a bond hearing at that time. U.S. Marshals brought Bennett to Anderson and an Oconee County Sheriff’s Deputy transported her to the Detention Center at that time. At this time, Bennett remains at the Oconee County Detention Center.