Woman who smuggled drugs to prison gets probation
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Brookhaven woman was given 23 months of intermediate punishment with three years of consecutive probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to possessing narcotics with intent to deliver, an ungraded felony.
Kimberley Packard, 30, of the 1200 block of West Chelton Road, was arrested Dec. 11, 2018, for attempting to smuggle contraband into the Delaware County prison in Concord.
According to information provided by the Delaware County District Attorney’s office at the time, prison staff became aware that Packard was going to attempt to transfer drugs to inmate Michael Santangelo, who had overdosed on heroin following Packard’s visit the week before.
After Santangelo arrived in the visitation area Dec. 11 and hugged Packard, they were confronted by authorities. Both were searched, but no contraband was found.
When authorities told Packard they would need to search her car, she said she had locked her keys in her vehicle. She then provided the wrong color of her car and said it had been stolen from the parking lot when prison staff offered to help get into the vehicle.
Authorities eventually identified Packard’s car using video surveillance and searched the vehicle, recovering 27 used blue wax paper bags, each of which contained suspected heroin residue, as well as 30 syringes, four preloaded syringes containing a clear liquid, a bottle containing a white powdery substance, 75 clonazepam pills, and other pills including Oxycodone and Alprazolam.
Assistant District Attorney Ashleigh Latonick told Common Pleas Court Judge G. Michael Green that Packard should be given credit for time served at the prison between Dec. 12, 2018, and Jan. 9, 2019, as well as time in a rehabilitation facility from Jan. 9, 2019, to Feb. 8, 2019, and time served on an electronic home monitor between Feb. 9, 2019, and Tuesday’s hearing. Packard also completed an intensive outpatient treatment program, Latonick said.
Defense attorney Mike Dugan said Packard had committed her life to getting clean after her arrest.
She is in a better place now, he said, and wants to put it behind her.
Packard admitted to making poor choices that resulted in a crippling addiction Tuesday. She also apologized to and thanked her mother, and acknowledged she will have to fight for sobriety every day for the rest of her life.
“I was on a self-destructive path spiraling out of control,” Packard said. “I hate to admit it, but if all this hadn’t caught up with me, I’d probably be dead. Some may call it a blessing in disguise.”
In addition to intermediate punishment and probation, Packard was ordered to pay $680 in lab fees, a $100 cost assessment and provide a DNA sample to state police. She was also ordered to have no contact with inmates at the prison and to stay away from the prison facility.