Woman, jailed for positive alcohol test, blames mislabeled denture cream

Julie Manganis, Gloucester Daily Times, Mass.
·2 min read

Aug. 22—SALEM — A Gloucester woman on probation in a 2012 drunken driving crash that killed an Ipswich woman was put back in jail on Friday, hours after a positive test for alcohol.

But Rebecca Jacques' attorney says her client wasn't drinking — she'd just started using a new denture adhesive that, it turns out, contains alcohol.

Lawyer Meredith Reeves even tried to show Salem Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler the padded blue and white Amazon envelope and the three tubes of adhesive delivered Thursday — tubes that did not disclose that the product contained alcohol.

The boxes did include that information on the ingredient list, the lawyer said, acknowledging her client was careless for not reading both.

Jacques, 62, is nearing the end of a 10-year probation term imposed, along with a four-year prison term, back in 2013, for manslaughter, vehicular homicide, driving without a license and other charges.

A year earlier, in December 2012, Jacques was at the wheel of a borrowed truck that drifted into the oncoming lane of traffic on Route 133 in Gloucester, where it collided with a car driven by an off-duty state trooper. One of the trooper's passengers, Mary Lipman of Ipswich, was killed and a second passenger was injured.

Her path since being released from prison has been bumpy, with several prior probation violations that led to judges ordering her to wear an alcohol monitoring device.

Just last month, Jacques was jailed for 29 days for another violation.

It was while she was in custody, Reeves told the judge, that she realized her dentures were slipping badly.

So when she got out of jail two weeks ago, she ordered the adhesive on Amazon, the lawyer said. It arrived Thursday and she used it Friday morning while getting ready for work.

At 5:23 a.m., she submitted a breath sample on the device, which showed a blood alcohol level of .028. About 15 minutes later she was prompted to submit a confirmatory breath sample, which revealed a level of .018, a probation officer told the judge.

Jacques didn't wait for a warrant and immediately went to Salem Superior Court. There, she tested negative, the probation officer told the judge.

But Drechsler was openly skeptical, suggesting the level shown on the first test was the equivalent of consuming a full drink.

"I'm detaining her," Drechsler said. He scheduled a further hearing on the alleged violation for Sept. 6.

Jacques appeared to start crying, insisting she hadn't had any alcohol and she was going to miss her son's engagement party.

Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, jmanganis@gloucestertimes.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis.