CLEARFIELD – A Savannah, Ga., woman accused of having drugs, a large amount of cash and a gun in a local hotel room was sentenced Monday during colloquy court in Clearfield County.
Carema Lashandra Brown, 27, an inmate of the jail, pleaded guilty to an ungraded felony count of criminal conspiracy/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and firearm not to be carried without a license.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced her to 120 days to one year in jail and two years consecutive probation. She was fined $250 plus costs and due to the felony charge, she must submit to DNA testing at a cost of $250.
The charges stem from an incident at the Clarion Hotel in Sandy Township on Dec. 26 when police were called to investigate a drug overdose and found Brown with Charles Aaron Best. After returning to the room a second time, they found drug paraphernalia and drug packaging materials. Brown had more than $1,300 in cash and fake identification cards.
Best, 33, also from Savannah, Ga., pleaded guilty in May to criminal attempt/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal use of communication facility and received the same sentence as Brown. In a second case, he pleaded guilty to possession of a small amount of marijuana and was fined $25 plus costs.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, when police arrived, a female was unconscious on the floor and barely breathing but she did have a slow pulse.
An officer administered a sternum rub in attempt to wake her up. After about 15 minutes, she began to breathe normally and she asked what was going on.
The other occupants of the room, including Brown, told her she had overdosed on heroin. She was taken by ambulance to Penn Highlands DuBois. Police then left the scene.
About two hours later, police were dispatched to the same hotel room for a disturbance with a male and a stolen pistol. Shortly after knocking, Brown answered the door.
An officer could see the room was a mess with items all over the place. It looked as if a disturbance was taking place. The officer ordered Brown out of the room and then entered where he found two men, one of whom was Best.
These men were both standing upright and immediately complied with the command to place their hands up. The man who was with Best was ordered out first and he told them he had a knife on his right hip. This was seized.
Best was ordered out of the room into the hallway. The officer then conducted a security sweep of the room to see if anyone else was in the room.
The three occupants were patted down. Multiple knives were removed from Best and the other man who was with him. An electric incapacitating device was removed from Brown. It was determined Brown was the owner of the room and another adjacent room. She was asked to consent to a search of the rooms and she did.
When an officer tried to open the second room with a key, they found it to be locked from the inside. They knocked on the door. Brown was asked who was in the room.
She said she did not believe it was even her room, because she had moved from that room into the current room. Hotel staff had informed police the second room was also rented by Brown.
Officers forced entry into the room by kicking the door and then by using a ballistic shield. They found Fred Springer, who was wanted by Jefferson County hiding beside the bed. He was found to be under the influence of drugs.
A search of the bags and a red cooler within the first room uncovered a digital scale, a container with a large amount of small plastic bags, a piece of copper screen commonly used as a filter, and a glass pipe containing residue.
The officers also found another electrical incapacitating device, a blow torch, which is often used to create heat to use a methamphetamine pipe, a melted ladle with residue, a folding pocket knife, and an unmarked pill bottle with a small packet of unidentified pills in a duffle bag.
Also found in the room were glass pipes with residue that tested positive as methamphetamine, a bag of small plastic bags, a pipe screen, a small amount of marijuana, a digital scale, a mirror, two propane canisters, four different cell phones, and a metal tube used for ingesting drugs.
Best had three stamp bags with drug residue, a glass pipe with residue, $367 in cash and Brown had multiple access device cards, identification cards not in her name and $1,370 in cash.
The charges in Best’s second case were filed after incidents that occurred as Brown and Best were transported to the county jail. According to that affidavit, both of them were acting suspicious in the back of the patrol car. Brown was moving all around and saying that she was uncomfortable. When they were asked what they were doing, they didn’t respond.
Best at one point stated he found some small plastic baggies in the parking lot that he had picked up so no little kids would get them and had put them in his pocket.
After they arrived at the jail, an officer asked a female officer to search Brown thoroughly because she might be concealing contraband.
Best was placed up against the wall and a small baggie of marijuana fell from his left pants leg. He commented “someone left some weed on the floor.” The officer told him he saw it fall from his pant leg and then he checked Best’s right pant leg. Here the officer found a large plastic baggie and plastic baggies in his sock.
When the patrol vehicle was searched, an officer found a loaded nine millimeter handgun under the seat where Best had been seated. Brown issued a written confession that she had the handgun in her possession in her pants. An investigation determined that Best had the gun and it was collateral for a drug sale by Best and Brown.