Chicagoan Ordered To Get Help After 396 Arrests

Shermain Miles, 51, has been arrested 396 times in the past 35 years

A Chicago woman who's been arrested 396 times in the past 35 years was ordered to get mental health and substance abuse treatment as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Fifty-one-year-old Shermain Miles, who's been in the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln since December for violating parole, appeared in a Cook County court on Monday to plead guilty to charges she attacked a city alderman. She also pleaded guilty to trespassing and public drinking in separate cases.

A judge sentenced her to time served in all three, because Miles agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation and get follow-up treatment.

Miles, who is homeless, has dozens of convictions for felonies and misdemeanors.

She was arrested 65 times for disorderly conduct and 59 times for crimes related to prostitution, among other things. She has used at least 83 different aliases and is well known among merchants and residents in several neighborhoods on Chicago's North Side. One florist called police about her 25 times last summer.

She thanked a judge for the opportunity to get help.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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