LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The director of a state-funded substance abuse program in Louisville was arrested for drunk driving and kept her job.
Court records say Barbara Strahm had slurred speech, watery eyes, staggered from her vehicle and failed three field sobriety tests when police pulled her over in southern Indiana on I-64 near the I-265 interchange in March 2018.
The citation listed "Left of center, unsafe lane movement, exceeding max speed in 55 mph zone, failure to signal," as the violations ahead of an Operating While Intoxicated charge.
It's coming to light more than year later as court records obtained by WDRB News reveal the 49-year-old is expected to change her plea and cut a deal with the state at 9 a.m. Friday in Floyd County Superior Court.
Strahm runs Community Transitional Services located near 14th and Jefferson Streets in Louisville's Russell neighborhood. At one time, the halfway house was home to the largest substance abuse program in Kentucky. It holds approximately 300 state-mandated offenders ordered to serve out the end of their sentences in a facility said to help with addiction so that they'll return to the community more productive, law-abiding citizens.
A supervisor confirmed Thursday that Strahm is still employed as CTS-Russell's director and said she did not know about the 2018 arrest.
CTS was the subject of an extensive WDRB News investigation in 2013. In addition to drug crimes, the facility housed parolees and inmates charged with more serious cases, including sexual offenses. That investigation revealed a serious problem with runaways, offenders who leave without completing the six-month transitional program and become fugitives the moment they walk out the door. The state paid CTS-Russell's parent company nearly $7 million in taxpayer money in two years despite the fact that the facility had more than 500 runaways in the same time period. Strahm was also leading the organization at this time.
"You just walked out the door, walked out the fire escape, go down the steps and go through the door," said Charles Stockton, who completed a state-mandated stay at CTS in 2013 at the end of a drug sentence.
State corrections officials didn't respond to a request Thursday asking if they even knew about Strahm's drunk driving arrest. Prosecutors confirmed the plea hearing for Friday but would not release the terms of the deal. Strahm's lawyer didn't respond to a request for comment.
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