By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The second half of a couple that was busted during a drug search last week appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court Thursday to plead guilty.
Twenty-six-year-old Khristin Sharp had been arrested on March 25 after Bucyrus police and other law enforcement entities executed a search warrant at 910 Maple Street in Bucyrus. Heroin, syringes, scales, and packaging had been found at the home. Shaun McCarty, 30, was also arrested at that time. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and drug possession Wednesday and received a three-year prison sentence.
On Thursday, Sharp pleaded guilty to a bill of information of fourth-degree drug trafficking. She had been selling less than one gram of heroin at the time of the search warrant. In addition to her newest charge, Sharp also pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, a case that had been pending since last year.
The Crawford County Prosecutor’s Office entered into a plea agreement with Sharp for a recommended sentence of five years of community control on each case and she must complete a drug and alcohol assessment as well as any recommended treatment program. She was ordered to pay $735 in restitution to Cashland in the receiving stolen property case.
In the drug trafficking case, Sharp had her driver’s license suspended for six months and must pay a $2,500 mandatory drug fine. She must also forfeit any drug-related property currently being held to the Bucyrus Police Department. If she should fail on community control in this case, Sharp has an 18-month prison sentence hanging over her head.
“You are prison eligible in this case,” Judge Sean Leuthold said. “If I so wish I could give you a prison sentence.”
Leuthold warned Sharp there was no guarantee that he would go along with the recommended sentence at her sentencing hearing.
“We’ve got a charge of trafficking in drugs . . . a very serious charge,” Leuthold said. “However, I will keep an open mind in this case and will see what you have to say.”
Leuthold ordered Sharp to be held in the county jail on a $500,000 bond until her sentencing hearing and requested a pre-sentence investigation be completed.
In exchange for a guilty plea, 26-year-old Brittany Freeman will have fewer felonies on her record but that doesn’t mean she will be getting out of prison anytime soon.
Freeman pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to 12 months in prison, which will be served concurrently with a nine-year prison sentence from another county. One charge of drug possession and another of forgery, both stemming from 2013, were dismissed as part of her plea agreement, though Freeman will have to pay restitution to the victims in the cases in the amounts of $225.96 and $300.
After her prison sentence Freeman will be placed on community control for three years.
“Obviously you’re going to be in prison for a long time,” Leuthold said. “I hope you look at the mistakes you made and correct them.”