School Board candidate Rob MacCallum’s wife has accepted an offer from the State Attorney’s Office to enter a diversion program to avoid prosecution on a charge of “leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.”
The charge stems from Colleen MacCallum’s arrest on Dec. 30, shortly after her pick-up truck crashed into the back end of a sports utility vehicle on State Road 60, near the 53rd Avenue intersection.
According to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement signed on Jan. 29, the state will not pursue the second-degree misdemeanor charge against her if she successfully completes the program within six months.
If she doesn’t, the state may resume its prosecution of the case.
Rob MacCallum, who is running to unseat District 3 incumbent Peggy Jones on the School Board, said via text message Sunday he would “not be commenting on anything that does not pertain to my campaign.”
Despite her legal issue, MacCallum’s wife was chosen by School Board member Jackie Rosario earlier this month to serve on the district’s book-challenge committee.
Colleen MacCallum, 38, already has satisfied one of the agreement’s terms, completing a four-hour driver improvement class.
The agreement also requires her to:
- File monthly reports to a state-appointed diversion officer, allow the officer to visit her home and place of employment, and comply with all of the officer’s instructions.
- Remain regularly employed, notify her diversion officer of any change of address or employment, and make herself available for services of the Comprehensive Offender Rehabilitation Program.
- Receive permission from her diversion officer to leave the four-county 19th Circuit, not use intoxicants to excess, and remain a law-abiding citizen.
In addition, Colleen MacCallum was required to pay $45 per month to the Comprehensive Offender Rehabilitation Program for the duration of the agreement, as well as $150 to the State Attorney’s Office, $50 to the Clerk of Court and $20 to Treasure Coast Crimestoppers. Ticketed for “careless driving” in connection with the accident, she paid a $148 fine on Feb. 7.
A Sheriff’s Office report on the crash stated that witnesses provided deputies with the truck’s license-plate number and described the vehicle as “smoking and having front-end damage” as the driver left the scene without stopping. Colleen MacCallum was arrested at her Vero Beach home shortly after the collision, which occurred at about 4:30 p.m. She was booked into the County Jail two hours later and was released at about 7:45 p.m. after posting a $500 cash bond.
The arrest affidavit filed by Sheriff’s Deputy Ethan Denniston stated that Ricky Vinson said he was driving his Chevrolet SUV in the center lane of eastbound State Road 60 in the vicinity of 53rd Avenue, and a silver Toyota Tacoma pick-up trick was behind him.
Vinson said he was moving into the right lane when the truck “accelerated quickly,” perhaps attempting to pass him on the right. He said he wasn’t sure what the other driver was trying to do, but after the crash occurred, Vinson stopped. The truck, however, continued down the road, he said.
