WILMINGTON — A Sabina woman received a two-year prison sentence after she was found guilty of trafficking meth and psilocybin.

Danielle N. Bentley, 34, originally was indicted last spring on charges of four counts of drug trafficking and two counts of drug possession. In a plea agreement, she pled guilty to two counts of trafficking meth and one count of trafficking psilocybin, which is a psychedelic drug.

On April 21, 2017 in Sabina, a search of Bentley’s vehicle yielded “a small amount of what appeared to be crystal meth inside a clear container marked ‘special delivery’,” according to a law enforcement affidavit. Moreover, a Sabina police officer reportedly found more than $1,000 inside a hand purse.

Then on May 3, 2017 the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office carried out a search warrant on a residence and other buildings at a property on the 500 block of Grand Avenue in Sabina. Bentley, who was detained while the search was conducted, said she was selling meth, according to an affidavit by a sheriff’s detective.

She also reportedly told law enforcement she had recently been arrested and that $1,000 was confiscated and she needed to make her money back so she was selling more meth.

The Grand Avenue search warrant turned up meth, a digital scale, individual bags of marijuana, and meth pipes, an affidavit stated.

Prosecution and defense counsel both recommended a two-year prison term, and Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John W. “Tim” Rudduck stated he founded the recommended sentence appropriate. These reportedly are the defendant’s first felony charges.

The judge granted credit for 42 days Bentley spent in the local jail. She was transported to the Ohio Reformatory for Women following her sentencing here.

Bentley forfeited the $1,007 and $350 that law enforcement seized from her.

However, she will not have to pay a mandatory fine attached to one of her convictions. The sentencing paperwork notes the mandatory fine does not have to be imposed if certain criteria are met.

The paperwork stated the court considers the defendant to be financially indigent.

“Further, defendant is a young woman who hopefully will be rehabilitated. To impose a fine under these circumstances would punish defendant but interfere with rehabilitation,” wrote Rudduck in the sentencing paper.

When Bentley is released from prison, she will be supervised by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority for three years.

Defense attorney Bradley P. Koffel stated in court papers that his client is a recovering addict since her arrest a year earlier.

At a separate sentencing hearing, William Kyle Doan, 40, of Wilmington, received an 11-month prison sentence for possessing meth.

Prior to this sentence to prison, Doan was placed on community controls for two years in late May, with completion of the STAR residential program a key part of his community control sanctions.

Later though he declined to attend the STAR program, an action that broke one of the rules of his community controls. Rudduck then rescinded the community control sentence and Doan was given the prison term.

Credit was granted for 140 days in jail served by Doan in the case.

Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.