CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — Three women who pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin and other drugs into the Clarion County Jail were sentenced on Wednesday.
According to court documents, the following females were sentenced for their roles in the crimes committed in November of 2016 at the Clarion County Jail:
– Julie Ann Simpson, 33, of Shippenville, pleaded guilty on June 7 to one second-degree felony count of the possession of a controlled substance, contraband by an inmate.
She was sentenced to two to four years behind bars.
The following charges were dismissed as a result of Simpson’s guilty plea:
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony (4 counts)
– Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2 (2 counts)
– Possession Controlled Substance, Contraband/Inmate, Felony 2 (1 count)
– Conspiracy – Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2
– Conspiracy – Criminal Use Of Communication Facility, Felony 3
– Intentional Possession Controlled Substance By Per Not Registered, Misdemeanor (3 counts)
– Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Misdemeanor
Simpson also received two years probation on a guilty plea on a charge of making a false report in an attempt to incriminate another person in a September 23, 2016 case. The probation will be served after her jail time.
Simpson has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 2009. She has convictions in Allegheny, Butler, Luzerne, and Clarion counties for drug offenses and theft.
– Donielle N. Beichner, 26, of New Bethlehem, pleaded guilty on June 7 to the following:
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony
– Possession Control Substance, Contraband/Inmate, Felony 2
She was sentenced to 14 to 28 months behind bars.
The following charges were dismissed as a result of Beichner’s negotiated guilty plea:
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony (9 counts)
– Conspiracy — Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony
– Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2
– Conspiracy — Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2 (2 counts)
– Possession Control Substance, Contraband/Inmate, Felony 2 (1 count)
– Criminal Use Of Communication Facility, Felony 3
– Intentional Possession Controlled Substance By Per Not Registered, Misdemeanor (2 counts)
– Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Misdemeanor
Beichner also has convictions for various offenses in Armstrong and Elk counties.
– Brooke K. Reed, 27, of Clarion pleaded guilty on June 7 to the manufacture, delivery, or possession with the intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance.
She was sentenced to serve five years in the Intermediate Punishment Program.
As a result of Reed’s negotiated guilty plea, the following charges were dismissed:
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony (1 count)
– Conspiracy – Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2
– Retail Theft-Take Merchandse, Felony 3
– Receiving Stolen Property, Misdemeanor 1
– Use/Possession Of Drug Parapharnalia, Misdemeanor
Pending Sentences:
Court documents indicate that the plea court for Rebecca McAninch, 27, of Rimersburg, occurred on July 7.
She faced the following charges:
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony
– Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2
– Possess Control Subs, Contraband/Inmate, Felony 2
– Intentional Possession Controlled Substance By Person Not Registered, Misdemeanor
– Criminal Use Of Communication Facility, Felony 3
Her sentence was adjudicated.
Sentencing is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on August 9 in front of President Judge James G. Arner in Clarion County Court of Common Pleas.
No other information was available at the time of the publication of this article.
Court documents indicate that the plea court for Amanda Lynn Gauthier, 35, of Lucinda, occurred on July 5.
She faced the following charges:
– Conspiracy – Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony (3 counts)
– Conspiracy – Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2 (2 counts)
– Possession Control Subs, Contraband/Inmate, Felony 2 (2 counts)
– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony (2 counts)
– Intentional Possession Controlled Substance By Per Not Registered, Misdemeanor (3 counts)
– Criminal Use Of Communication Facility, Felony 3 (2 counts)
– Use/Possession Of Drug Paraphernalia, Misdemeanor
According to court documents, Gauthier’s case is still Active.
No other information was available at the time of the publication of this article.
Details of the case:
A joint investigation was conducted by the Clarion County Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET) and Clarion-based State Police.
According to a criminal complaint, Clarion County Probation Officer Jay Kerle notified police on November 17, 2016, that phone calls involving Donielle Beichner were intercepted, including a call to Joseph Bruno on November 16.
These calls led Officer Kerle to investigate further and view surveillance video from the Clarion County Courthouse. Kerle reported that surveillance shows “Bruno entering the third-floor bathroom prior to Beichner who was at the Clarion County Courthouse for a court appearance,” the criminal complaint stated.
The Clarion County Jail was then contacted and advised of the incident and “began to search inmates housed in the same block with Beichner. Suboxone, heroin, tobacco and Kratom were found on Beichner and several other female prisoners,” the criminal complaint indicated.
Additionally, 10 females tested positive for various substances.
Other known inmates were interviewed and corroborated that Beichner had smuggled controlled substances into the jail, including heroin, Suboxone, and methamphetamine, the criminal complaint continued.
Beichner Interviewed at Clarion County Jail
Beichner “was interviewed and admitted that she had communicated via telephone from the Clarion County Jail to Bruno to facilitate him in obtaining controlled substances and placing them in the bathroom at the courthouse for her to retrieve.
She said that when she went to the bathroom, she located the contraband behind the garbage can. She admitted that it had been tobacco and three Suboxone strips, which she hid in her vagina. Beichner admitted to providing some of the Suboxone to two other inmates,” according to the criminal complaint.
Beichner denied bringing heroin into the jail and claimed that it was brought back to the jail by Simpson after she returned from a CYS hearing at the Clarion County Courthouse.
Video Obtained from Clarion County Courthouse
On November 21, Detective Peck obtained video from the Clarion County Courthouse showing Bruno entering the female restroom and Beichner entering the same restroom a short time later.
Based on Beichner’s claim that Simpson brought heroin back to the jail after a CYS hearing at the courthouse, Detective Peck continued to investigate.
Additional video surveillance was obtained from the day of Simpson’s CYS hearing (November 3).
The video shows Bruno entering the restroom at 1:31 p.m. Bruno entered the restroom twice. He can be seen “bending down” as he entered the “small restroom.” Nine minutes later, Simpson entered the same restroom.
Bruno later admitted to placing drugs in a restroom at the courthouse on November 3.
Simpson Interviewed
On December 1, Julie Simpson was interviewed by Detective Peck and Tpr. Craddock at the Clarion County Jail.
On the evening of November 17, Simpson was found to be in possession of heroin and tobacco. She also tested positive for methamphetamine and opiates.
Simpson admitted to ingesting heroin and methamphetamine with Beichner and another inmate on November 17.
She also agreed to “hold a bag of chew” for Beichner and placed the baggie inside her bra to conceal it from the guards.
Simpson stated that she had no prior knowledge of the stamp bag of heroin found in her possession by the guards that night and that it “must have been with the tobacco or stuck to the bag of tobacco.”
Simpson also denied bringing drugs into the jail.
She continued to deny the allegations after Detective Peck explained that she was seen on camera in the bathroom where Bruno placed the drugs minutes earlier. She stated that she did not use the restroom that day.
Simpson admitted that Beichner asked her several times in the days prior to her CYS hearing to pick up drugs left by Bruno.
She then “remembered that she did use the bathroom that day,” according to the criminal complaint.
Simpson said that in the car ride from the jail to the courthouse she started her menstrual cycle. When they arrived at the courthouse, a Clarion County Sheriff’s deputy provided her with a female hygiene product. She entered the restroom at this point while the deputy waited in the hallway.
According to the criminal complaint, Detective Peck asked, “Do you expect me to believe that you started your (menstrual cycle) in the five-minute car ride to the courthouse on the day that I obtained information that you smuggled drugs into the jail? You enter the same restroom just nine minutes after Bruno was seen entering the bathroom?”
Simpson denied the allegations and requested a lawyer.
Detective Peck then obtained jailhouse phone call records from Simpson’s account on November 2, November 3, and November 4. The calls were made by Beichner and Simpson could be heard in the background.
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