Montana woman pleads guilty to meth-related charges

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Leland

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A Montana woman who faced five methamphetamine-related charges pleaded guilty to two of them Monday as part of a plea agreement during a hearing at the Stark County Courthouse.

Katrina Leland was sentenced to three years in prison with 18 months suspended for possessing meth and syringes with meth residue on them.

“I just want to see you get help because you’re a nice young lady and I don’t want to see you back here,” Judge William Herauf said. “You need to keep yourself out of jail. You need to get some help and you need to take it fully to heart so that you’re able to get through this.”

Leland was also charged with criminal conspiracy to deliver methamphetamine, a Class A felony, ingesting methamphetamine, a Class A misdemeanor, and possessing meth paraphernalia, a Class C felony.

However, those charges were dismissed as part of her plea agreement.

“She didn’t admit to the ingestion and the rest of it was pretty thin,” Stark County State’s Attorney Tom Henning said after the hearing.

The evidence against her in the cases she pleaded guilty to were stronger, which is why Henning offered the plea he did.

Leland, Tye Maus and Christopher Fielding were in Leland’s vehicle, which had been reported as suspicious for an unrelated event, when Leland was arrested, according to the Dickinson Police Department.

A bag containing two bags of marijuana and a glass smoking device was found in the backseat, Grosz said.

There was also a container holding three bags of meth under Maus’s seat, Grosz added. About 9 grams of meth was taken from the vehicle, according to a previous Press article.

It was unclear which drugs belonged to whom, Henning said.

Maus pleaded guilty to possession of meth and Fielding pleaded guilty to ingesting meth.

After that incident, Leland was arrested again for possessing meth and paraphernalia after she and another man were accused of shoplifting, Henning said. She pleaded guilty to those charges Monday and the charges involving Maus and Fielding were dismissed.

Leland will get credit for time served, must pay a $250 fine and will be on supervised probation.

“I went easy on all the fines and fees,” Herauf said at the hearing. “I could have hit you for $10,000 and I didn’t do that.”

Leland thanked Herauf at the hearing, but otherwise spoke little.

Her attorney, Mary Nordsven, was unavailable for comment after the hearing.

Henning said Leland’s legal issues seem to stem from her addiction to meth.

“You know an addict we maybe can treat,” Henning said. “If you’re pedaling your poison, then that’s another level of offender, as far as I’m concerned.”

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