Woman gets probation for 2016 drug bust

Published 8:22 am Friday, June 23, 2017

One of three people charged after a July 21, 2016, drug bust will serve probation and community service.

Brianna Leigh Capretz, 23, was sentenced Thursday in Mower County District Court to 40 hours of community service and five years of probation as part of a plea agreement.

She was arrested along with Tyrone Alexander Bennett, 37, and Miguel Hernandez-Miller, 24.

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Bennett was previously sentenced to a stayed prison term of a year and a day and five years probation. Hernandez-Miller was sentenced in May to serve five years of probation and 40 hours of community service for felony fifth-degree drug possession.

Austin police executed a search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation at 12:25 p.m. July 21, 2016 at a home on the 200 block of First Street Southeast.

According to court records, Bennett was apprehended shortly after police saw him leave the residence, and police found Capretz and Hernandez-Miller smoking heroin with an open bag of heroin between them in a back bedroom of Bennett’s apartment.

The two were apprehended, and Capretz told officers she had two more bags of heroin in her purse. Police seized the heroin, $375 on Bennett, two Motorola cell phones and various heroin paraphernalia.

According to court records, Capretz admitted to buying heroin from Bennett and smoked it with Hernandez-Miller, adding they planned to smoke before walking back to Hernandez-Miller’s home. She allegedly told officers she bought three bags of heroin around noon for $150 and that she’d bought heroin from Bennett several times before. She also told police she witnessed other sales.

Hernandez-Miller confirmed to police that Capretz bought the heroin and that he smoked with her.

Bennett denied selling heroin to Capretz and Hernandez-Miller, adding he was not a dealer but obtained heroin for people who needed it, according to the court complaint.