Methamphetamine dealer sentenced to 7 years of incarceration
RICHMOND, Ind. — A Connersville woman has been sentenced to seven years of incarceration after pleading guilty to dealing methamphetamine.
Loren Ashley Hatfield, 36, pleaded guilty to Level 3 and Level 5 felony counts in two separate cases, according to Judge April Drake's sentencing order. Hatfield's plea agreement with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office dismissed four other counts plus two entire cases that charged her with Level 5 felony possession of methamphetamine.
As required by the plea agreement, Drake sentenced Hatfield to nine years with three years suspended to probation for the Level 3 felony, which was a lesser-included charge, and to one year for the Level 5 felony. Hatfield will serve the sentences consecutively.
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Hatfield, who has been jailed since Feb. 26, received credit for 146 days served and 49 days of good time. With the maximum good time, she would be incarcerated five years and three months. Hatfield remains in the jail waiting transfer to the Indiana Department of Correction.
The Level 3 felony conviction, which had been filed as a Level 2 felony, resulted from a Feb. 12 traffic stop of a vehicle in which Hatfield was riding. Richmond Police Department K-9 Bo conducted a free-air sniff of he vehicle and indicated to the odor of narcotics, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
When Hatfield was patted down, a foil package containing methamphetamine was located, the affidavit said. Hatfield also told officers that baggies of methamphetamine and marijuana were under her sweatshirt.
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Overall, 37 grams of methamphetamine and 19 grams of marijuana were located during the stop, according to the affidavit.
Hatfield had also been arrested just 12 days earlier when the vehicle she was driving was stopped because it had been reported stolen, according to an affidavit of probable cause. She told officers she was dealing methamphetamine and had traded meth for use of the vehicle.
Officers found 5 grams of methamphetamine and 6 grams of marijuana in her underwear after she told them it was there, the affidavit said. That resulted in the Level 5 felony charge.
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Hatfield was released from prison April 30, 2021, after serving a sentence for dealing methamphetamine, according to DOC records. That conviction involved a plot to pass methamphetamine to a Wayne County Jail inmate waiting in the courthouse for a hearing. That methamphetamine would then be smuggled into the jail.
Hatfield's extensive criminal history in Wayne and Fayette counties also includes previous felony convictions for possession of methamphetamine and possession of a legend drug. She also has eight convictions for driving while suspended, three for possession of marijuana, plus convictions for battery, invasion of privacy and conversion.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Methamphetamine dealer sentenced to 7 years of incarceration
