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Pregnant woman jailed for unpaid tickets from '01
By joe gorman
youngstown
Jessica Decker got a rude welcome back to the area.
The 33-year-old Poland woman, six months pregnant, moved from Colorado last weekend and was pulled over by Poland village police for a cracked windshield Thursday. A records check revealed she had 16 unpaid parking tickets in Youngstown from 2001.
She spent the night in the Mahoning County jail until her arraignment via video hookup in Youngstown Municipal Court on Friday. Her husband, Greg, paid the $220 she owed, and she was freed shortly after.
“Good thing your husband is not mad at you,” Municipal Judge Robert Milich said to her as her husband walked up to the bench with a wad of bills in his hand.
“Her mother is,” answered a woman in the back of the courtroom who was sitting with her husband.
Greg Decker declined to comment further after he paid the fine, but he did say he is a native of Colorado.
Judge Milich asked Jessica Decker how she got so many parking tickets. She told the judge she was a delivery driver downtown when she got them.
Court records show a warrant was issued for her in 2002. Judge Milich said she had pleaded no contest in 2002 and agreed to pay them off, but Decker said she moved to Colorado shortly after.
“I didn’t know this was following me,” she said.
A search of court records shows that she had 31 tickets for criminal parking or traffic parking offenses in 2001.
Judge Milich said one option she had for paying off what she owed was to stay in jail. He told her she got $50 off her fine for every day she spent in jail. When asked if she wanted to do that, Decker said, “not particularly, no.”
That’s when her husband, who was sitting in the back of the courtroom, took the money out of his pocket and said he was going to pay the fine.
“I’m not pleased with her in jail at all,” Greg Decker said.
His wife let out a huge sigh of relief when she found out he was in the courtroom.