Bismarck woman pleads guilty, gets five years on drug charges
The second of two women arrested early this year on multiple felony drug charges following a traffic stop was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with all but five years suspended, after pleading guilty in Garland County Circuit Court.
Carol L.S. Johnson, 25, of Bismarck, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, with one count reduced from the more serious charge of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of meth with purpose to deliver and possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver, involving pills.
An additional count of possession of drug paraphernalia and a charge of theft by receiving of a firearm were withdrawn. In addition to prison time, Johnson was fined $ 4 , 000 and ordered to pay $ 565 in court costs upon her release.
A second passenger, Brennan Lorainne Leon, 37, of Hot Springs, arrested on the same charges, pleaded guilty on Oct. 19 to two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, while the other charges were withdrawn, and was sentenced to five years’ probation, fined $2,000 and ordered to pay $565 in court costs.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Feb. 22, shortly after 4 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer Jonathan Smith saw a black 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche stopped at the intersection of Hobson and Central avenues and noted the front windshield had a large crack covering approximately three-fourths of the glass and “obstructing the driver’s view.”
He followed the vehicle north on Central to Maurice Street where he activated his lights to make a traffic stop. The vehicle sped up and turned quickly onto Charteroak Street where a passenger in the rear jumped out and fled on foot between the residences on Charteroak.
The vehicle sped off again south on Charteroak and then came to an abrupt stop at Charteroak and Sanford streets
where the driver jumped out and fled on foot east on Sanford, darting between two houses.
Smith noted there were two occupants, identified as Johnson and Leon, who stayed in the vehicle, one in the front seat and one in the back, who were detained.
In searching the vehicle, Smith found a loaded Glock 26 handgun on the front floorboard that had been reported stolen out of Garland County. He also found two zip- up cases, one with a baggie of meth, a glass pipe, and 20 hydrocodone pills. The second held another baggie of meth, a digital scale, a bag of marijuana and several empty baggies.
On the front seat, he found a plastic Walgreens bag that held nine unused syringes and a pill bottle that contained another baggie of meth, and 44 pills identified as clonazepam and lorazepam.
In Johnson’s wallet, Smith reportedly found $300 in cash. He also found an Arkansas license plate inside the vehicle that was determined to have been reported stolen in the city and another digital scale.
Johnson was released three days later on a $ 7,500 bond and pleaded not guilty to the charges on July 15. Her bond was later revoked following her arrest on March 17 on felony drug charges, also stemming from a traffic stop.