Crime & Safety

Police: Woman With Six OWI Convictions Arrested After Crash in Bloomfield Township

Bloomfield Township police said the 52-year-old woman also had a loaded gun and stolen credit cards in her possession. Arrests do not indicate conviction.

Bloomfield Township police said they arrested a woman Sunday with six prior convictions for operating under the influence after she crashed her vehicle into a brick wall.

Julie Bakkila, 52, faces counts of operating while intoxicated, third offense, and driving with a suspended license, second offense, after the crash at about 3:30 p.m. in the 3000 block of South Miller Way, police reports said.

Bakkila, from Chassell — located in the Upper Peninsula's Houghton County — was also charged with felony possession of a loaded firearm, and possession of a stolen financial transaction device for credit cards and a checkbook officers found in the vehicle, according to reports.

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Officers responded to calls about a single-vehicle crash and found Bakkila behind the wheel of a car that left the roadway and struck a brick wall in the neighborhood just north of Maple Road and west of the Oakland Hills Golf Course. She was not injured and officers arrested her without incident.

Police reports said the credit cards and checkbook in the vehicle were stolen from Houghton County. The weapon was desribed as a long gun and was not stolen, officials said. Bakkila was reportedly visiting a local friend before the crash.

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Her criminal history includes misdemeanor and felony convictions for operating a vehicle while under influence, and two separate stints in Michigan prisons. Records show Bakkila served three years of a maximum six-year sentence for operating while intoxicated and fleeing and eluding police convictions in 1998 in Oakland County. She was released in August 2001, and returned to prison in March 2008 following a conviction in Houghton County for operating while under the influence of a controlled substance. She was sentenced to three years in prison and was discharged in December 2010.

Bakkila remained at the Oakland County Jail Thursday morning on $250,000 bond, and awaits a preliminary hearing in 48th District Court, records show.


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