An Ocala woman who became infamous for flashing a wide grin in her arrest mugshot last May is back behind bars in Marion County.
Angenette Welk, 45, who was arrested last May after a three-vehicle crash claimed the life of a woman four days later, was taken into custody at the Marion County Courthouse on Thursday after Judge Steven G. Rogers revoked her $40,000 bond. The decision came after Rogers reviewed records showing medical treatment Welk had sought Feb. 23-24.
Welk, who has been charged with driving under the influence manslaughter and two counts of DUI with property damage, was living in Washington State at the time under a monitoring program that had been approved by Rogers in December.
Rogers’ order to revoke Welk’s bond doesn’t specify what kind of medical treatment she received. But it cites the case of Barns v. State, which prevented a man involved in a similar DUI manslaughter case from consuming alcohol. A Palm Beach Shores Police officer later reported seeing the man “in a highly intoxicated state” and his bond was revoked.
In that precedent-setting case from September 2000, the judge ruled that it was necessary to incarcerate the man because allowing him to remain free – even on a higher bond – “would place the community at risk of physical harm no matter what amount of bond or other condition was imposed.”
Jury selection for Welk’s trial is scheduled to begin May 10, so Rogers’ ruling appears to indicate that she will remain behind bars in the Marion County Jail at least until her trial is completed.
This past Tuesday, Welk’s attorney, Stacy Youmans, of Blanchard, Merriam, Adel & Kirkland, had requested permission for her client to travel from her residence in Washington State to a “qualified health care provider.” That apparently sparked the need for Thursday’s hearing, because Welk was then granted permission to travel by commercial airlines to Orlando so she could attend Thursday’s hearing. That order also states that her return travel would be determined by the court at the hearing.
Welk was originally arrested by a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on May 10, 2018 after her 2011 Chevy Avalanche slammed into the back of a 2017 Hyundai Elantra driven by 18-year-old Shiyanne Kroll, of Seattle. The crash occurred at the intersection of NW 60th Avenue and U.S. Hwy. 27 and Kroll’s passenger, 60-year-old Sandra Clarkston, of Sarasota, was critically injured and succumbed to those injuries four days later while being treated at Ocala Regional Medical Center.
Welk, who married Eric John Missett, of Ocala, seven days after the crash, had provided two breath samples showing .172 and .165 blood alcohol content – both twice the legal limit of .08 in Florida. She told the trooper investigating the crash that she had dropped her phone and when she looked up, she was about to collide with Kroll’s sedan.
Youmans made the request in December to allow Welk to move to Washington State. The State Attorney’s office fought the motion but Rogers eventually agreed that Welk could leave Marion County if she agreed to several conditions, which included:
- Not possessing or consuming alcohol or any illegal drugs without a valid prescription;
- Being confined to her residence;
- Being allowed to seek employment and work;Providing a new address and any change in the address where she resides within 24 hours;
- Relinquishing any type of passport and refraining from applying for a “physical copy” of her passport;
- Surrendering any type of driver’s license or pilot’s license;
- Not operating any type of motorized vehicle or airplane defined in Florida Statutes;
- Being placed on a GPS monitor;
- Having no contact with Clarkson’s family, which includes Kroll, Keonna Sciacca, Daniel Clarkston and Keith Zetzer; and
- Appearing in person at the February pretrial conference.
Welk’s initial booking photo at the Marion County Jail, which showed her grinning with her head tilted to one side, quickly gained worldwide notoriety on websites and television stations and in newspapers across the world. It also caused Youmans to quickly defend her client by referring to her as a “a good-hearted person, a wife, mother and friend who is devastated by what happened.”
Youmans, a Florida native and former prosecutor, has extensive courtroom experience and is well-known to many Villagers. She recently successfully represented 21-year-old Brice Hall, who escaped prosecution for a charge of manslaughter in the death of a McCall’s Tavern employee in June 2016 in The Villages. Youmans had filed a motion to dismiss the case against her client using a Stand Your Ground defense.