After leading police on a lengthy chase in Powell last week, a South Dakota woman claimed that she’d been kidnapped by members of a street gang, court records say. However, a follow-up investigation only uncovered evidence indicating she was drunk.

Misty Springs Aguilera, 37, is facing five misdemeanor charges in connection with the July 24 incident: driving while under the influence of alcohol for a second time in 10 years, reckless driving, fleeing or eluding police, a stop sign violation and interference with a peace officer.

Court records indicate Aguilera has several prior convictions for impaired driving; at the time of last week’s incident, court records indicate she was out on bond in South Dakota on charges that include driving while under the influence for a sixth or subsequent time.

Aguilera remained in the custody of the Park County Detention Center on Wednesday, with bail set at $25,000 cash.

“The risk that she posed to the community in town, [to] the sheriff’s office, everywhere, from this high speed chase and her behaviors, you can’t really capture the amount of harm that she could have excised on people,” Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Laura Newton argued at a Friday hearing in Park County Circuit Court.

Starting off with a bang

The incident started around 8 a.m. on July 24, when a citizen reported a crash at the intersection of Sixth and Ingalls streets.

According to the witness, the driver of a dark colored Chevy SUV hit a drainage dip with enough force that she triggered the vehicle’s airbags. The woman — later identified as Aguilera — got out of the vehicle in tears, grabbed some items and fled on foot, Powell Police Officer Trevor Carpenter wrote of the witness’ account. However, the woman then returned, got back into the vehicle and drove south on Ingalls, the witness relayed.

It wasn’t long before Carpenter spotted a dark-colored SUV speeding back north on Ingalls Street. The driver, later identified as Aguilera, ran the stop sign at its intersection with Seventh Street and swerved onto the gravel walking path/access road that runs to the north.

Carpenter followed her and flipped on his lights and sirens. According to the officer’s account, Aguilera came to a stop about a quarter-mile later and he saw her “hysterically crying” inside the SUV. However, when Carpenter ordered Aguilera to get out of the vehicle, she drove off again.

Aguilera nearly got stuck in a concrete irrigation ditch, the affidavit says, but made it to Lane 8. She then headed west, with Powell police officers, Park County Sheriff’s deputies and Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers in pursuit.

“One of the officers had his vehicle across the road and actually had to move out of the way because she had no plan of stopping,” Newton said in court, “and when he confronted her about that, she [Aguilera] said she was going to hit him.”

Aguilera reportedly made it all the way to the end of the lane — a stretch of roughly 4.5 miles — before her vehicle became disabled. Aguilera then tried fleeing on foot, the affidavit says, but she was caught and handcuffed.

Alcohol, drugs
and the cartel

As officers questioned Aguilera at the scene, she “voluntarily divulged that she was not a drug user but an alcoholic,” Carpenter wrote, and he later detected “a strong odor of alcohol.”

Carpenter also suspected drug use, as he said the suspect’s demeanor swung from “amped” to “very lethargic” after her arrest. He said Aguilera appeared to lose consciousness at one point, and she was turned over to EMTs and taken to Powell Valley Hospital.

Carpenter said he was later told by EMTs that Aguilera was claiming to have been kidnapped and drugged by members of the cartel and the MS-13 street gang; she indicated she’d been held at a residence near the initial crash.

Combined with Aguilera’s strange behavior, the information about the gangs prompted Carpenter to request a search warrant for Aguilera’s SUV — including a couple suitcases in the back of the vehicle. Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah allowed police to comb the vehicle for drugs or alcohol, but the search turned up only a 750 ml bottle of New Amsterdam Peach Vodka.

Aguilera had reportedly been staying with a Powell man and he told police she’d drank “a lot of strong tequila all night” and into the early morning hours of July 24, Carpenter wrote.

The man said he tried to stop Aguilera from leaving his home that morning, “as he felt she was not safe to drive yet,” but she managed to get the keys and leave, Carpenter wrote.

Aguilera was released from the hospital and booked into the Park County Detention Center on the afternoon of July 24. Although some nine hours had passed since her arrest, a breath test administered at the jail indicated that Aguilera’s blood alcohol content remained at 0.17%, Carpenter wrote. That’s more than double the legal driving limit of 0.08%.

Pending charges
in South Dakota

At Friday’s hearing, Aguilera requested a court-appointed defense attorney, then indicated she wanted to admit to the allegations.

“Is there any way I can just plead guilty today?” Aguilera asked.

“Are you sure you want to plead guilty to all these charges?” Judge Darrah responded, before adding, “I’m not going to accept any guilty pleas today from you, ma’am.”

Newton later said she had no objection to the court entering not guilty pleas.

“I think that’s appropriate at this time,” she said.

The prosecutor told the court that Aguilera — a resident of Black Hawk — was also facing the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence in South Dakota and was being sought by authorities there.

Court records obtained by the Tribune indicate that on the day of her pursuit in Powell, Aguilera was due to face multiple charges in a Sturgis courtroom. The charges — which stem from a June 28 incident in Meade County — include the sixth or subsequent DUI, reckless driving and resisting arrest. A circuit court judge issued a warrant for her arrest after she failed to appear for a July 24 arraignment.

Court records indicate Aguilera is also facing felony and misdemeanor counts of intentional damage to property in neighboring Pennington County.

Aguilera is tentatively set to be tried on the new misdemeanor charges in Park County on Dec. 19.