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Crime spree lands woman on probationNov 12, 2012 (The McDowell News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Marion woman has more than six years in prison hanging over her head for going on her own mini crime spree in May. Dana Marie Laws, 30, of Carly Drive, pleaded guilty in McDowell County Superior Court to five counts of misdemeanor larceny, four counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle, two counts each of felony breaking and entering and felony larceny after breaking and entering and one count each of injury to personal property, simple possession of a Schedule IV controlled substance, possession of up to 1/2 ounce marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting a public officer. Judge Laura J. "Suzy" Bridges handed her four consecutive 10- to 21-month plus a 120-day suspended sentences and placed her on supervised probation for 36 months. The judge ordered her to spend six months on electronic monitoring and pay restitution of $4,588.16 to the victims in the cases. It all began at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24, when a woman entered the Clinchfield Loop residence of Tera Harris. She went in through a back door, walked into the living room and began emptying the contents of a backpack onto the floor, according to a report by Officer B.C. Loftis of the Marion Police Department. The woman went into Harris' bathroom then left the residence. Harris reported a $100 ring missing. The suspect left and went to a neighboring home on Clinchfield Loop owned by Teresa Ledford. Officers responding to the Harris crime found Laws leaving the Ledford residence, Loftis' reports stated. Inside the backpack she was carrying, officers found drug paraphernalia, a small amount of marijuana, prescription anti-anxiety pills, a laptop computer, a CD player and CDs. Police checked inside the Ledford home and found a computer desk with a power cable and printer cable on top of the desk. Ledford later identified the computer in Laws' possession as hers, reports stated. Laws was arrested and taken to the Marion Police Department. At one point, she asked to use the restroom but instead fled out a back door. She was apprehended behind another building on Main Street and placed in a patrol car, where she slammed her head against a cage inside the vehicle, caused a large gash on her head and had to spend a night in the hospital. During this time, Jennifer Leigh Lewis of Marion reported that someone had broken into her vehicle while it was parked at Kwik Mart on East Court Street and had stolen a CD player and nine CDs. Lewis told officers she thought Laws was the culprit because she had been in the store earlier in the evening trying to sell a digital camera, according to another report by Loftis. Officers found the CD player and CDs in Laws' backpack, the reports stated. ___ (c)2012 The McDowell News (Marion, N.C.) Visit The McDowell News (Marion, N.C.) at www.mcdowellnews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |