Brittany Austel

Police are searching for a Butler woman who escaped from her electronic monitoring anklet while on house arrest.

Butler County detectives filed charges Tuesday against Brittany B. Austel, 26, with the lone charge being felony escape.

According to court documents Thursday afternoon, the case remains inactive, which means Austel has yet to be arrested and scheduled for arraignment.

According to charging documents, probation officers received a call Feb. 20 from Glade Run Electronic Monitoring staff informing them Austel’s electronic monitoring anklet had been cut.

On anklet devices, a wire runs through the anklet to the attached device, which operates on GPS connectivity. Any type of cutting or tearing of that wire from the device immediately sends a notification to the monitoring team, which is then forwarded to authorities.

According to detectives, probation officers arrived at Austel’s West New Castle Street apartment around 11 a.m. Tuesday, and Austel was not there.

“The (electronic monitoring) anklet was located a short time later, hidden in a vent in the foyer of the apartment, and the band had been cut,” detectives said.

In 2021, Austel pleaded guilty to felony fleeing from officers and misdemeanor DUI and possessing drug paraphernalia. She was sentenced Sept. 26 to a fine of $1,000 and 15 days of house arrest, followed by 42 months of probation.

Austel was arrested Jan. 12 for a probation violation and was released again on house arrest, which has remained until her alleged escape Tuesday.

Upon her arrest, Austel will be arraigned on the new charge, and a preliminary hearing will be scheduled.