Woman gets last shot at probation

A 41-year-old Gardnerville woman was reinstated to probation Tuesday and warned she would be sent to prison for three years with one slip-up.

District Judge Dave Gamble told Ramona Madore he was giving her credit for not using methamphetamine even though she was arrested for a probation violation with a blood-alcohol content of .21.

"From this day forward, you are ordered not to touch alcohol," Gamble said. "If you use it again, if you slip, if you have a relapse, if you have a failure, you are going to prison."

Gamble acknowledged the "completely valid disagreement" of prosecutor Tom Gregory and parole officer Anna Martin that Madore was a high risk candidate for reinstatement.

Gamble said that he wanted to recognize Madore's efforts to stay off methamphetamine.

"When I send people to drug court who are methamphetamine users. I am trying to figure some way to recognize what I do see as progress," Gamble said. "She did not go back to using meth."

Gregory said Madore's most recent arrest was on an allegation that she choked her daughter and pulled the girl's hair while they were in the car. Madore's blood-alcohol content was .21, but Gregory said he couldn't prove she was driving. She was cited for a probation violation, but a charge of driving under the influence with two priors was dismissed.

Madore denied that she pulled the girl's hair or choked her. She said Friday that she slapped her daughter as she tried to get out of the car.

Madore was suspended from the Western Regional Nevada Drug Court for drinking.

She is due back in East Fork Justice Court on a charge of domestic battery.

Madore originally was sentenced to probation and ordered to drug court after she pleaded guilty last year to uttering a forged instrument. She wrote $1,200 in bogus checks from her employer.

She was given a suspended sentence of 34 months in prison.

On Tuesday, Gamble ordered Madore to undergo a mental health evaluation and complete in-patient substance abuse treatment.

She must perform 40 hours of community service and notify employers of her conviction.

"You've begged for this chance and you've been given it through pure grace and nothing else," Gamble said.