Woman Charged With Threatening Friend Who Wouldn't Lie For Her
ASPEN, Colo. (CBS4) -- An Aspen area woman has been charged with felony intimidation and attempted extortion for allegedly making violent threats to a former friend she wanted to take the blame for her drunk driving arrest more than a year ago.
Jillian White, 63, was taken into custody by the Pitkin County Sheriff's on April 22 and handed over to Eagle County. It is there she already faced DUI and Careless Driving charges from a crash near El Jebel in Jan. 23, 2018.
Since that DUI arrest, White has threatened the former male friend for his refusal to tell police he was behind the wheel that night.
The man is a witness in the DUI case against White.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit acquired by the Aspen Times, White has threatened the man directly as well as indirectly through the his children.
"Warning," White allegedly emailed the man's daughter April 9 in all capital letters. "Your father is doing down. Tell him that tomorrow is toooo (sic) late."
White is alleged to have written the man the next day with a potential reference to physical violence against the man's son. The email included the son's current address.
The man told police the message "shocked the hell" out of him.
An earlier email from White on April 5 referred to a prominent television journalist in New York, where White had previous residences.
"If I killed you, she would get the story for '48 Hours,'" White stated, according to Eagle County's affidavit.
"You f/ed with the wrong person," White is alleged to have wrote in that same email.
"If I want to get you," White allegedly wrote in a separate email. "I know exactly how. Trust me."
According to the arrest document obtained by the Aspen Times, a trooper from the Colorado State Patrol found White sitting in the driver's seat of a 2014 Audi following a crash near El Jebel in 2018. White immediately claimed her boyfriend had been driving but she'd somehow dropped him off and driven away. However, the trooper, according to the affidavit, smelled alcohol and detected unsteady walking and slurred speech by White.
When pressed by the trooper, White allegedly admitted to driving the car but rejected all forms of sobriety testing.
White's male friend arrived at the scene sometime later, according to the affidavit, and told the trooper White had been drinking flights of whiskey. The pair later argued in the car and the man left to go for a walk. He returned, found the car gone, and called for a taxi. The trooper later verified the man was waiting for the taxi at the time of the accident, the affidavit states.
The Aspen Times's review of the affidavit describes "pages and pages of rambling, nonsensical emails and text messages White allegedly sent the man threatening him and urging him to change his story and claim he was the driver. White appears to blame the man for her driving because he should have known that alcohol triggers symptoms related to traumatic brain injuries she's suffered, according to the affidavit."
White posted bond after her April arrest and is scheduled to appear in court May 7. A misdemeanor harassment charge accompanies the extortion and intimidation felonies.
A search of online criminal records reveal four alcohol-related arrests and six for shoplifting or theft since 2013.
CBS4's call to a phone number listed to White's Woody Creek residence - and which identified Jillian White as the owner of the phone - was not answered and would not accept a message.