CLEARFIELD – A Clearfield woman accused of smuggling drugs into the Clearfield County Jail which caused three overdoses, including one fatality, was sentenced Monday.
Angela Marie Ricketts, 39, pleaded guilty to felony drug delivery resulting in death and in a separate case to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
She was sentenced by Judge Paul E. Cherry to a total of 87 months to 20 years in state prison with 12 months consecutive re-entry probation.
Prior to sentencing, her attorney, Joseph Ryan stated that Rickets is “genuinely remorseful” before reading her prepared statement, which admitted there was nothing she could say that could bring the victim, Kaitlyn Evans, 31, back.
She wrote that Evans was her friend and “I think about her everyday.” She stated that she is “so very sorry.”
District Attorney Ryan Sayers asked Cherry to give her a 25-year-maximum so she is monitored upon her release and doesn’t slip back into this type of lifestyle.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Ricketts was in the jail following an encounter with DuBois City police at a hotel on July 5, 2023 where she and a man were acting suspiciously and asking employees drug-related questions. She was taken into custody on a warrant and transported to the jail.
She reportedly had three baggies of drugs including cocaine, Fentanyl, Xanax and Klonopin concealed in her body.
While she was at the jail, she gave another inmate a small “rock” piece “because she was asking for it to get high.” This inmate later tested positive for three different drugs.
On July 6, she was reportedly in the cell with the two women who overdosed where they did a “line off a book with a straw.” Shortly after this, one of the inmates had a seizure before becoming unresponsive.
While CPR was being performed on her, the second inmate became unconscious and efforts were made to resuscitate her. Both are eventually revived with Narcan.
While being transported by ambulance to the hospital, one of them reportedly said she got the drugs from Ricketts, who had drugs hidden on her person.
Other inmates stated that they knew Ricketts had drugs.
In the early morning hours of July 8, Evans also overdosed and passed away.
When the cell was searched, police say they found a contact lens container with an unknown crystallized rock. They also located a plastic straw and a small crystallized rock that tested positive for Fentanyl that had reportedly rolled off the victim when she was moved.
In a commissary bag, they found 29 pills thought to be Xanax and Klonopin.
Police say these drugs were smuggled into the facility by Ricketts, who hid them in a body cavity.
In a phone call with her sister on Sept. 1, Ricketts admitted to her that she brought drugs into the jail.
The victim had both Fentanyl and acetyl Fentanyl in her system and the cause of death was a multi-drug overdose, according to the autopsy report.
Evans’ family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county, the warden and several corrections officers, which is still pending.
In an additional case, Ricketts pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and in a fourth case to misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. She was given one year concurrent probation for each case.