Woman shows up to jail high, filled with pills

A Tennessee woman was allegedly high on drugs and had 154 pills concealed inside her when she reported to the Whitley County Detention Center Friday evening to begin serving a jail sentence for trying to smuggle drugs into the jail four months ago, according to court records.

April May Stickles, 29, of Lafollette, pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon to charges of first-degree promoting contraband, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and two counts of possession of a controlled substance during her arraignment before District Judge Jason Price. She entered a guilty plea to a public intoxication charge.

When Stickles reported to the jail about 6:15 p.m. Friday she had slurred speech, failed a sobriety test and told deputy jailers that she had taken a sleeping pill, according to her arrest citation.

Deputy Jailer David Morrow asked her to take a urine test and after several failures, he asked her if she had any contraband on her, but she initially denied it, Morrow wrote on the arrest citation.

When jail nurse Verna Halcomb asked if she could check her for contraband, Stickles refused. After Halcomb told her she was going to take her to the hospital for an x-ray, Stickles admitted that she had three balloons inside her with a total of 154 pills in them, according to her arrest citation.

Price scheduled a July 27 preliminary hearing in the case.

Stickles was reporting to the detention center Friday to begin serving an 87-day jail sentence that was part of a circuit court plea bargain.

She pleaded guilty on May 12 to first-degree possession of a controlled substance, first-degree promoting contraband and tampering with physical evidence.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence, but agreed that all but 90 days of that sentence would be probated for three years on the condition that Stickles successfully complete drug court, according to court documents.

About 3:42 p.m. on March 25, Williamsburg Police Officer Susan Petty responded to a call at Walmart that someone was trying to return items with a fake receipt.

It was clear that Stickles was publicly intoxicated with an unknown substance, and she later told police that she had been taking Xanaz, Petty wrote on her arrest citation.

Once at the jail, Petty noted on the citation that she asked Stickles if she had any contraband on her, and she stated no before asking to go to the restroom.

"I had one of the jailers, Brenda Heatherly, search her, and escort her to the bathroom," Petty wrote on the citation. "Heatherly stated she (Stickles) had a green balloon that she tried to conceal and then flush down the toilet.

"When she figured out that she was caught, she tried to swallow the balloon."

Heatherly removed the balloon and recovered 31 methadone pills, according to the arrest citation.

Stickles previously pleaded guilty to a public intoxication charge in connection with the March incident.