Actress Jensen Buchanan, who pleaded guilty last year to driving with a blood-alcohol content more than four times above the legal limit and causing a crash that critically injured an Arizona man, has been jailed for allegedly drinking alcohol while on felony probation.
Buchanan is scheduled to be arraigned on the probation-violation charge Thursday in Santa Maria Superior Court.
She initially was arrested following a two-car crash on Highway 154 near Live Oak Camp, where she was driving the wrong way on May 18, 2016, the California Highway Patrol said.
The driver of the other vehicle, Bradley Asolas, who now lives in Arizona, suffered major injuries and had to be extricated from his vehicle.
He spent more than 30 days in Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, and continues his recovery from the various injuries more than a year later, he told the court.
During the October hearing, the judge sentenced to Buchanan to spend 365 days in Santa Barbara County Jail and five years felony probation.
He also suspended the 6-year prison term, but issued a stern warning after hearing from Asolas and his wife about their lives since the crash.
Among many standard terms of her sentencing, Buchanan was ordered to avoid alcohol.
“Should Ms. Buchanan violate the terms and conditions of her probation, every day of that six-year prison sentence is right there, and I would not hesitate to impose it,” Judge James Voysey told the court during the sentencing hearing.
Buchanan reportedly had been out of custody on alternative sentencing, which requires wearing an electronic alcohol monitoring device.
The Santa Barbara County Jail periodically releases some inmates to alternative sentencing programs due to overcrowding.
In the new allegation, probation officers allege the device registered alcohol use between December 29 and January 11, with a peak reading of 0.18, Chief Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Gresser said after reviewing the probation report.
Buchanan reportedly was arrested by Oxnard police on January 12 and booked into the Ventura County Jail, according to that facility's online records, which also said she was released from that jail early Wednesday. The jail website listed her manner of release as "other county."
Buchanan was in custody in Santa Barbara County Jail as of Wednesday night, a records clerk said.
Buchanan appeared on numerous soap operas over nearly three decades including, most recently, on The Young and the Restless (as Elise), and previously on One Life to Live (Sarah), Another World (Vicky), As the World Turns (Vicky) and General Hospital (Melissa).
UPDATE: During her brief probation violating hearing Thursday, defense attorney Griselda Carreon denied the violation had occurred, and Judge Patricia Kelly continued the hearing until 8:30 a.m. Monday in Voysey's courtroom, where Buchanan had been sentenced.
Carreon also requested that bail be set, arguing the actress "has been sober since May 19, 2016," and had complied with all of her custody requirements even after being evacuated from both the Thomas fire and deadly Montecito mudslides.