Pubdate: Wed, 20 Apr 2016
Source: Macon Telegraph (GA)
Copyright: 2016 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.macontelegraph.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667
Author: Amy Leigh Womack
Note: Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. 
Note: MAP archives articles exactly as published, except that our 
editors may redact the names and addresses of accused persons who 
have not been convicted of a crime, if those named are not otherwise 
public figures or officials.

MACON LAWYER PLEADS GUILTY IN FEDERAL DRUG CASE

A Macon attorney admitted Wednesday she participated in a drug deal 
in the parking lot of a Church's Chicken restaurant on Hardeman 
Avenue, near Interstate 75 and downtown Macon, in June 2015.

[name redacted], 36, pleaded guilty to possession of oxycodone and 
methamphetamine, with intent to distribute both drugs, during a 
hearing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

A federal judge agreed to allow [name redacted] to remain on bond 
until her July 6 sentencing hearing. She could face up to 20 years in 
prison and a $1 million fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard said a June 4, 2015, meeting 
between [name redacted] and an undercover GBI agent was recorded 
using audio and visual equipment.

When [name redacted] got into the undercover agent's car, she gave 
him a small amount of methamphetamine, saying it was from a different 
supplier than usual, and asked that the agent try it, Howard said.

The agent responded that the drugs were for a co-worker and said he'd 
get back with her, the prosecutor said.

Given $500 for 10 oxycodone pills and an eight-ball of 
methamphetamine, [name redacted] drove to a nearby Citgo gas station 
to meet with her supplier. She returned, without the methamphetamine, 
and delivered the pills with a promise that the methamphetamine would 
be coming later in the day, Howard said.

The undercover agent tried to reach [name redacted] after the 
transaction, but was unable to reach her, she said.

Answering questions posed by the judge, [name redacted] said she 
entered an in-patient drug rehabilitation center Nov. 7 and has 
continued out-patient care since her discharge Jan. 4.

"I accept full responsibility for what I've done," she told the 
judge. [name redacted] will have another opportunity to speak at her 
sentencing hearing this summer.

In his argument for [name redacted] to remain on bond until her 
sentencing, defense attorney Charles E. Cox Jr. said [name redacted] 
is attending weekly therapy and is in contact with the state bar 
association pertaining to other matters. No other details about those 
matters were discussed.

Her bar record didn't show any public disciplinary history Wednesday.

Prior to opening her own law practice in 2009, [name redacted] had 
worked as an assistant public defender in Houston County and as an 
associate attorney for Macon's Hogue & Hogue firm.

[name redacted] was indicted Aug. 11 and arrested about a week later 
in a traffic stop on Interstate 75 in Houston County.

A Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said an investigation 
began in early May after deputies learned [name redacted] might have 
been engaged in illegal activities.

A public defender was appointed to represent [name redacted] at her 
first appearance hearing, though Cox was later appointed to handle 
the case after a conflict of interest surfaced that prevented federal 
public defenders from continuing work on the case, according to court records.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D