HOULTON, Maine — A Houlton woman who initially was sentenced to 90 days on a drug possession charge was ordered to serve another 45 months on Wednesday for trying to smuggle drugs into jail.
Dyan M. Reeves, 35, was tearful and repentant when she appeared in Aroostook County Superior Court before Justice E. Allen Hunter. She was indicted by the grand jury four months ago for trafficking in prison contraband. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Wednesday for the felony charge along with a charge of violation of conditions of release.
Aroostook County Assistant District Attorney Kurt Kafferlin said that Reeves had been convicted last year of unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, a Class C felony. The charge stemmed from an incident last year when Reeves came to the Houlton courthouse while security personnel were conducting entry screening. During the process, officers discovered that she was carrying scheduled drugs and a hypodermic needle with blood in it. As part of a plea deal in that case, she was sentenced last August to three years in prison with all but 90 days suspended. The judge allowed her to delay her sentence until Sept. 10, 2011.
Reeves arrived at the jail at the proper time, but Kafferlin said that she attempted to smuggle drugs into the facility with her. Jail personnel were tipped off ahead of time and found her in possession of 40 doses of gabapentin, a medication that is used to treat seizure disorders and help relieve neuropathic pain. It can be abused by recreational drug users.
She was apprehended by staff at the jail and charged with trafficking in prison contraband, a Class C felony.
Cathy Lufkin, Reeves’ attorney, told Hunter on Wednesday that her client was an addict who was “throwing herself on the mercy of the court.” She said that Reeves has a 19-year-old daughter and that their relationship had become frayed because of the 35-year-old’s drug use.
“Drugs took over her life,” said Lufkin. “She’s a good person. She got in with the wrong crowd and started doing drugs and before long she was addicted. She has been in jail since September of 2011 and is facing the sobering reality of what her life has become.”
The defense attorney asked the judge to give Reeves a short sentence along with probation so that she could go to rehab. Kafferlin was against the idea, saying that Reeves has had plenty of chances to clean up. He pushed for her to serve at least 33 months in prison.
Kafferlin told Hunter that Reeves has prior convictions for drug offenses as well as for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants and violation of conditions of release. He said that Reeves had been given plenty of chances and that the trafficking charge was a “very serious offense.”
“Staff at the jail work very hard to keep drugs out of there,” he said. “Any drug harms the population. And this court is a victim. She was allowed to delay her sentence and then she brought drugs to jail with her. If she can’t behave checking into the jail, she likely won’t have success on the outside.”
Aroostook County Sheriff Jim Madore also addressed the judge, saying that 90 percent of the inmates are addicted to something, and bringing drugs into the facility makes it worse.
Reeves’ mother, aunt and brother pleaded for Hunter to give her probation so she could check into a rehab facility. They characterized her as a good, hardworking woman and mother whose life spiraled out of control after she became an addict.
Reeves penned a letter that was read by Lufkin. In it Reeves said she wanted to go to rehab to “get rid of the demons.”
Hunter told Reeves that he had seen “an endless succession of young lives lost to themselves, to their families and to the community” because of drugs during his years on the bench. He said he realized that she was an addict and that her crimes were driven by her addiction, but he called her crimes “egregious.”
Hunter then sentenced Reeves to 33 months in prison on the probation violation and 30 months, with all but 12 months suspended, on the trafficking charge, to be served consecutive to the first sentence.
“It is a long sentence, but it can be a turning point in your life if you let it,” Hunter told Reeves.
Wow! Many times I have written about the unfairness when it comes to sentencing woman to less jail time than men. In this case though, I think an extra year would have been enough. In my humble opinion, another 45 months is too harsh, especially when people get a lot less time for worse things.
I was thinking that same thing on how men seem to do a lot less time, and records are a lot worse too.
Then those people need to get more time,not that she gets less.Bring back Scared Straight.
watch your mouth Born! i grew up with this girl and this saddens me to see what has happened to her. i got back in contact with her a few yrs ago, but im taking this stray into drugs has been in the last cpl yrs. the teacher from South park said it right..”Drugs are Baaaad!” and it can grip people right by their life source. seen it a few times b4 and to tell ya the truth..it sux! my best friend in FL got hooked on crack and trusted or owed the wrong person and would up gettin murdered!! tell me how what u would think about drugs then. but obviously ya have zero “street smarts”…so please b4 ya run your mouth , think of your life and all that would happen if U got hooked on drugs! Good luck to Cass and the rest of the family!
I am shocked that this is who it is.. This is not the same person that I went to school with either.. I so hope she is able to get back the life she once had. She was always so happy go lucky!
quoting south park? really
Drugs are bad, unnkayyy?
unfortunately i understand what you are saying, that she once was a different person, but she also committed a crime, and that is what born is saying, she got the time for the crime. Just because she once was a wonderful, carefree, drug free person does not mean she does not deserve the repercussions of her actions. Also, making that very first decision to try drugs is a CHOICE, and she made the wrong run, and from there, it went downhill. I wish her the best, but this is what she deserves, she is paying her dues for her crime.
Watch my mouth? I do believe I have a right to say what I said. Just because she is your buddy and is such a great upstanding person, in your opinion, does not make her crime any less than it is. She is a drug addicted person who made stupid choices and you’re darn right I think she deserves what she got. In fact, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings any if her sentence were longer. If you’re friends with her, and your best friend in Florida was murdered then perhaps you’d do yourself a favor by making new friends. And I know what my life would be like if I were to become addicted to drugs, that’s why I’ve never chosen to do them. Drugs ruin lives, families and children…….so NO sympathy from me!
I think John Wayne said it best, “Life is tough, But it’s tougher still if you’re stupid”.
This should set an example for other drug users / sellers. It’s about time that a judge gave a fair sentence. Now she has 33 months to get herself cleaned up and ready to face the world again, hopefully she’ll stay clean after her release. I know I sound harsh but we need more judges like him, maybe other addicts will think twice and enter themselves into rehab before the same happens to them. It would make a better state all the way around if people would think twice about using drugs. A short time in rehab doesn’t do diddlysquat because people come out of rehab and go right back to using. 33 months gives her plenty of time to clean up her act and become a benefit to society instead of a burden.
I have worked closely with many drug users in the past. Many long time users would love to be cleaned out but it’s an addicting habit and it’s a very hard thing to do. There aren’t any “overnight” cures to rid a person of their addiction. A short rehab doesn’t do anything to help because once released, they go right back to using. I feel sorry for this woman for hanging with the wrong people, hopefully when she’s released she will make a better choice of friends.
I worked with someone who had multiple DUI convictions-fortunately no accidents that I know of.A year in jail and the loss of his job of 22 years did the trick.The responsibility of the law enforcement system is to keep the law abiding public SAFE,not to provide leniency.Everyone has a sob story.
It amazes me that people get hooked on stuff like gabapentin. I had a trial of that medication a few years ago to treat a medical problem. The side effects were awful. I was staggering down the hall at work, groggy all day long, not to mention falling asleep at the wheel on my commute. After a few days I told the doc I was cutting the dose by half. Then I cut it in half again. Finally I had to switch to another medication altogether.
My heart goes out to people with seizure disorders who have to take gabapentin. And I just scratch my head at the notion of anyone considering it to be a recreational drug. Since when does feeling unbearably groggy = FUN?!
I agree, I took that stuff, and it didn’t give me that side effect, but I took another prescription and it caused me to have such problems with sleep I couldnt’ get into my REM stage, so all day I was exhausted, i was drinking lots of caffeine, and taking the 5 hour energys just to function. I couldn’t drive from bangor to newport without feeling like i was giong to fall asleep at the wheel and i used to be able to drive from here to new jersey, 10 hours without batting an eyelash. I finally told my doctor i was tapering off it because I would rather live with my condition than with the side effects, and she let me. I have been able to find other RX’s with her that are less potent that help with the symptoms and don’t have any side effects. Luckily I don’t have the condition as bad as some people so I was able to do this, others can’t, but to think people function like that.
Dyan, i really hope you can get the help you need. sorry to see what you are going through these days. i cannot imagine what this is doing to your daughter. you are a wonderful person just took the wrong path in life. i am glad you had some famiy at your court appearance on your behalf. hopefully you can get the help you need while in jail or once released go immediately into rehab and get your life back on track. we love you, just hope this was what you needed.
So shes been in jail for 6 months, I bet she was thinking she would be released for time served..Wow what a shock that must of been!
i know dyan personally she is a good hearted person that would do anything for anyone and got into bad drugs i know cuz we used together but i got my life sober but the needle had ahold of her so hard my heart hurt for her and her daughter… i know she qwill learn her lesson in these months and get straightened out.. please dont get down on her if you dont know what it is like to be at ROCK BOTTOM and no one was there to hold you up?? Let God judge her NO ONE in HOULTON can say a WORD BAD ABOUT DYAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well apparently the SHERIFF CAN! If she is bringing drugs in and potentially corrupting others in jail who are trying to clean up, I think thats plenty bad.
RE Comment Below: Jeremy, I admittedly not been a guest of the big house. Not yet anyway. But if you know who is smuggling stuff in, be it staff or anyone, you should name them. Part of the reason for putting people in jail is so they can be in a controlled environment to heal, and hopefully change their ways.
do u even know that there is more drugs in jail than on the streets??? and its the “staff” that bring it in
I also went to school with her in Houlton and she lived with me for a bit here in Bangor. She was a good person and got caught up in the wrong crowd. I had a discussion with her on who she was hanging with and told her that as long as she was involved with those type of people we could no longer be friends. I have 2 children and couldn’t risk anything by being her friend. She denied it up and down that she wasn’t into drugs. It has been about 8 years since I have seen her and saddened by the outcome. But she knew what she was getting herself into and knew that there are consequences.
her sentence should give her plenty of time to think things over- & if she chooses she can get her life back on track- she is paying for her past choices, I hope now she will learn & grow. If she is as fine a person as some say on here, then she will come out of this even better. But it was HER choice to take that first hit of a drug that in turn, led her to where she is now. I am all for these strict sentences, keeps people from hurting others, or themselves.