Woman charged with escape from detox

By Jeff Hage (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Friday, September 19, 2008

Teresa Bergan was too intoxicated to be booked into the Otter Tail County Jail Sunday.

But she wasn’t too intoxicated to break out of detox.

Bergan, 37, no known address, has been charged in Otter Tail County District Court with two counts of escaping custody and two counts of 5th degree assault roughening up a caretaker at the local detox center and escaping from the facility.

According to the criminal complaint: Bergan was arrested Sunday on a warrant out of St. Louis County. She was allegedly too intoxicated to go to jail and was transported to the detox center, located at 1017 N. Tower Road in Fergus Falls.

The complaint alleges that while in the center a male acquaintance stopped by the facility to drop off some personal belongings. Bergan was in a community room when he arrived. While visiting, the male, later identified as Noel D. Watkins, grabbed and pulled an attendant through a doorway, allowing Bergan an opportunity to leave the room.

The complaint states that Watkins then attempted to keep Bergan inside the room, but was unsuccessful. Watkins then stomped on the foot and squeezed the arm of the of the attendant, the complaint states.

At this point Bergan allegedly grabbed the other shoulder of the attendant. The attendant was then pushed away from them after being struck by both Bergan and Watkins, the complaint states.

The pair then made their way from the detox center.

The two were later apprehended in a wooded area near the intersection of Fir Avenue and Tower Road near the Great Plains Natural Gas building.

The detox attendant was transported to the scene of the apprehension where Bergan and Watkins were positively identified as the two who assaulted the attendant. They were both booked into jail.

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