CLEARFIELD – A Pittsburgh woman who once tried to jump from a courthouse window to avoid going to jail was sentenced to state prison Monday.
Nicolette Joann Holzer, 35, 49 Albert St., Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty in two drug cases to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy.
In the second case, she also pleaded guilty to dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity.
She was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to three to seven years in state prison.
In a third case, stemming from the jumping incident, she pleaded guilty to resisting arrest and criminal mischief.
For this, she was sentenced to 30 days to two years in prison. This sentence will run concurrent with the drug sentences.
She was ordered to pay restitution of $370.47 to Clearfield County for the cost of replacing the broken window.
Prior to sentencing, she apologized and stated that she was “disappointed with myself.”
Her attorney, Daniel Konieczka Jr. explained that Holzer had some issues and was bi-polar. She was employed up to 2014 and had a Bachelor’s degree. Now she has lost her home and is filing for bankruptcy, he said.
Ammerman asked how she got involved with these methamphetamine dealers. Koniecza replied that she met them when she started using the drug.
It was during a session of motions court in March when Ammerman placed her on supervised bail and she was taken to be drug-tested.
After she failed the test and admitted to her probation officer she had used meth, Ammerman revoked her bail. Holzer’s response to learning she was going to jail was to try to jump from the second-story window.
Holzer’s head made contact with the glass, shattering it. She repeatedly said, “I just wanna die!” according to the affidavit of probable cause. She continued fighting with the officers and hitting her face off the floor.
Once she calmed down, she told the officers that: “I don’t want to hurt you guys, just myself. Death is better than going back to jail. That place is bad for me.”
Emergency services was called to treat Holzer and she was taken to Penn Highlands Clearfield for further examination.
Holzer’s bail had been previously been revoked and re-set at $350,000 Jan. 7. She posted that amount Jan. 11. At that bail hearing, Koniecza stated in her defense that she has been doing well in a rehabilitation program.
According to grand jury testimony filed with the criminal complaint, Robert Selfridge, 36, who had been cooperating with an investigation of drug activity, failed to turn himself in on gun charges and to attend a hearing in Clearfield County.
When he couldn’t be located, Holzer was questioned as to Selfridge’s whereabouts. She confirmed she had talked to him. She was advised that if she had any further contact she was to call the authorities. She failed to do so.
On July 28, 2015, Holzer was with Selfridge when he was found at a motel in Allegheny County and taken into custody.
He had in his possession a gram of methamphetamine, $2,136 in cash, and a shotgun shell.
Bags taken from his motel room contained four bags of crystal methamphetamine, black tar heroin, a shotgun, drug packaging materials, glassine bags, marijuana and forged identification with Selfridge’s photo.
According to that affidavit of probable cause in the second drug case, on Oct. 5, 2015, an undercover officer and an agent of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office were investigating an individual caught with methamphetamine and more than $8,000 in cash.
This individual told them he/she was selling the drugs for Holzer. Two days earlier, this person had gotten three ounces of methamphetamine to sell from Holzer, who was expecting payment of $4,650 for it.
The individual became a confidential informant and a meeting was set up with Holzer in a DuBois grocery store parking lot.
Holzer and another man showed up in a black vehicle that had been previously described by the informant. The informant then met with Holzer and gave her an envelope with $1,505 in it.
Police then executed a stop of the vehicle and arrested all three participants.
Selfridge pleaded guilty before Ammerman in June to two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of firearms prohibited, firearm not to be carried, flight to avoid apprehension, default in required appearance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was sentenced to a total of 13 years to 30 years in state prison.