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Mom gets 10 years for selling child’s prescription |
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Tuesday, October 21 2008 |
Need for money prompted woman to sell prescription drug.
By TJ HEMLINGER
Staff writer
A 38-year-old mother of three was sentenced to 10 years in prison with six to serve for selling her daughter’s prescription medicine for $800.
Mary E. Sellers of Columbia City had pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to dealing in a controlled substance, a Class B felony with a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Her attorney, Brad Voelz, in arguing for a short sentence and an extended period of probation, acknowledged that Sellers had a criminal record but that it was almost 20 years old.
“Her struggles to get through a difficult childhood led to a difficult start to adulthood,” Voelz said. “She was doing the best she could to get by. The use of alcohol and controlled substances in no way contributed to her criminal activity.
“Any extended sentence would be hard on her children,” he said. “Whatever she can do to be reunited with them is her goal. She wanted to plead guilty and start her sentence. She would follow the rules because she has so much riding on it.”
Voelz said the drug she sold, Adderall, is not a dangerous drug and is not addictive.
“She thought she was doing it to help someone,” he said. “She had been asked many times, and she needed the money.”
Adderall is used primarily to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, which are its only two approved indications for use in the United States.
Sellers said, “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my kids.”
She asked for home detention “so I can work to get my children back home and fix this.”
Prosecuting attorney Matt Rentschler said, “She was selling her children’s prescription medicine. (This type of drug) has a high potential for abuse. It may be prescribed for children, but I disagree it doesn’t have a high potential for abuse.”
Judge James Heuer, in noting that she sold 240 pills for $800, said, “Certainly she did intend to profit from this transaction.”
Voelz said the confidential informant set up the deal and was to get half the money.
Heuer added, “What also disturbs me was that you were at home with your three children when you did this.”
Sellers said she didn’t appreciate the severity of the act. “People buy stuff at the gas station to stay awake.”
In sentencing her, Heuer said he would consider modifying the sentence to work release once she had served “an appropriate amount of time.”
Voelz asked that Sellers be kept in jail instead of prison while she appealed to work release, and Heuer agreed.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, October 22 2008 )
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