Woman Arrested for Burglary After Allegedly Being Turned Loose From Rehab With Nowhere to Go

Scioto County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a Sunset Street home after residents reported a strange and frightening situation: a woman they didn’t know was suddenly inside their house—and they had no idea how she got there. The caller told deputies the woman appeared disoriented, was wearing a hospital bracelet, and claimed she had been in rehab. They also reported the home had been trashed and that the woman had tried getting into nearby vehicles. At one point, residents said the door appeared to have been forced, raising concerns there may have been others inside. When deputies arrived, they detained the woman in a cruiser and cleared the home to make sure no one else was inside. She was taken into custody on a burglary charge and booked into the Scioto County Jail. But that wasn’t the end of it. Court records show she was booked again just two days later on another burglary charge—suggesting she may have been released shortly after her first arrest, only to wind up right back in custody. She later appeared in Portsmouth Municipal Court, where a preliminary hearing was scheduled for February 12. The court found her indigent and appointed a public defender. A Growing Pattern: Treatment to the Streets What’s especially troubling is the larger pattern this case appears to fit. According to the initial report, the woman told residents she had been in rehab. That raises serious questions about whether she—like many others recently—was released from treatment or medical care directly onto the streets, with no housing plan, no follow-up support, and nowhere safe to go. It’s a scenario we’ve been seeing again and again across Scioto County: People in crisis are discharged from facilities… left to wander neighborhoods… and inevitably end up back in jail. Instead of recovery, stability, or supervision, they cycle between emergency rooms, rehab centers, police cruisers, and jail cells. Meanwhile, residents are left dealing with forced doors, damaged homes, and frightening encounters—and the person clearly in crisis gets another criminal charge added to their record. The Bigger Question At what point do we stop pretending this is working? If someone is being released from rehab or medical care with no support system in place, is it really surprising when they wind up breaking into homes just to survive? This case highlights a growing gap between treatment and real-world resources—and until that gap is addressed, both vulnerable people and local neighborhoods will keep paying the price. SCDN will continue following this case and tracking the broader impact of treatment discharges that leave people stranded in our community.

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