A Fayette County woman, whose husband died after falling off the sport utility vehicle she was driving, is accused of violating her probation for drunken driving by smoking crack cocaine in front of her children on Monday.
Christine A. Ritenour, 40, of Saltlick Township, is being detained at the Fayette County Prison, according to an order Friday by Judge Steve Leskinen. She faces a prison sentence if she's found to have violated her probation.
The judge sentenced Ritenour in March to complete 23 months of intermediate punishment, including 180 days on house arrest. She pleaded guilty in January to a charge of driving under the influence.
Christine Ritenour told state police at Uniontown that her husband, Clarence Ritenour, 39, fell off the running board of their 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche on Jan. 16, 2005, after she pulled out of their driveway onto Route 711. Prosecutors have said the couple had a fight before the early-morning incident.
Her blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit.
The Westmoreland County coroner's office ruled the death was an accident after Clarence Ritenour was pronounced dead of head injuries at Excela Health Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant.
At the sentencing, District Attorney Nancy Vernon said authorities considered conducting an inquest, but decided it would have proven futile because Christine Ritenour would have been the only witness.
Ritenour's probation officer, James Williams, said she admitted using cocaine this week and on May 9. She also showed the officer a crack pipe that was placed in her 7-year-old daughter's stuffed animal, according to the violation report.
Ritenour also was on probation in Westmoreland County for another drunken-driving charge.
Judge John E. Blahovec sentenced her in May to serve five years of intermediate punishment and nine months on electronic home monitoring for having a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 percent after a one-vehicle crash in Mt. Pleasant Township on Nov. 21.
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