Woman pleads guilty in drug cases, sentenced to probation
Published 11:01 am Saturday, June 24, 2017
A 24-year-old Austin woman pleaded guilty in two drug cases in Mower County District Court on Friday, while being sentenced to probation in a third.
Thania Sanchez pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement to gross misdemeanor fifth-degree drug possession in one case, and misdemeanor fourth-degree DWI in another case.
Sanchez was also sentenced Friday to five years probation for felony fifth-degree possession for having more than 10 grams of marijuana. In that case, officers looking to recover stolen property on Oct. 31, 2016, found 10.3 grams of marijuana and methamphetamine residue.
Sanchez
In the fourth-degree DWI case, Sanchez flagged down an Adams police officer on May 8 on the 400 block of Bergen Street, according to court records.
She was requesting help because her 2005 Ford Explorer was out of gas and her phone battery was dead.
The officer charged her phone and let her sit in his squad to warm up. After informing the officer she didn’t have a valid license, Sanchez walked back to her car to call a relative or taxi for a ride.
However, she left her phone charger with the cop, who then went to return it.
After finding the car didn’t have a front license plate, a back license plate came back expired out of Hennepin County and the tab matched a different vehicle in Cottonwood County.
Soon, the Mower County Sheriff’s Office became involved in the incident. Sanchez showed signs of being on drugs, but refused DWI tests.
About 14.5 grams of meth was found in the Ford, but Sanchez refused to submit to testing.
In the gross misdemeanor fifth-degree drug possession case, police executed a search warrant on April 5 for Sanchez and found her in what appeared to be a drug deal with Rocky Don Phathaem in a 2003 Ford Explorer on the 200 block of 11th Avenue Northwest.
Police found meth residue on Sanchez’s pants and slippers, but it appeared she’d dumped it when she saw police coming.
Police also found money, a small amount of meth and several items related to meth in the vehicle and Sanchez’s house. Sanchez’s residence also had a bedroom for a child.
She is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 3.
