The State Attorney’s Office has asked the Florida Department of Corrections to put a hold on a warrant issued for the arrest of a Boca Raton woman investigators say violated her probation for alleged drug use.
Stacie Persin, 44, was on probation after being convicted of manslaughter and vehicular homicide in 2000 for her role in a Boca Raton car accident that killed her 9-year-old daughter, Haley. Investigators said Persin was high on cocaine as she drove her daughter to school on Feb. 22, 2000, the date of the accident.
Details remained unclear Friday afternoon as to Persin’s exact whereabouts.
The Department of Corrections would not comment on details surrounding the case, but spokesperson Yolanda Murphy did say “the State Attorney’s office has asked us not to serve the warrant until further notice. We are aware of her [Persin’s] whereabouts.”
Persin’s husband, Michael, also refused to comment on his wife’s whereabouts when telephoned at his home Friday. He said only that she would not be home for a couple of days. Persin lives with her husband and daughter, Skylar, at 864 Coventry Street.
A warrant was issued for Persin’s arrest on Dec. 20 after she “submitted to a random drug test, which screened positive for the presence of cocaine” in a preliminary test on Dec. 16, according to Persin’s probation officer, Tina Russell, and a narrative from the Department of Corrections.
Faced with the drug test results, investigators said, Persin responded: “I went to the Dolphins game yesterday. I was with some people who were doing drugs. They may have given me something.”
According to the report, the amount of Persin’s urine sample “was not sufficient to send to the laboratory for confirmation.”
The report states that when Persin returned to the office a few hours later, she was unable to urinate again. She was then instructed by another probation officer, Sherri Cole, “to remain in the probation lobby until she could provide a urine sample that could be packaged and sent to the laboratory.” At that point, Persin fled the office.
Persin’s ex-husband and father of Haley, Jacques Bobrowsky, was dissatisfied with the sentence Persin received in July 2000 after pleading no contest. She was sentenced to five years probation and a three-year suspension of her driver’s license.
Bobrowsky channeled his anger and grief in another direction last year, when he founded Haley’s Rights, a nonprofit organization for children’s rights in criminal cases. The organization seeks to be an advocate for children’s rights by maintaining a presence in the courtroom. Bobrowsky’s board members closely monitor cases throughout the country where children are the victims, he said. They often speak before the judge on behalf of the children to ensure that those convicted of crimes against them do not received reduced sentences, he said.