Prison time ordered for female drug dealer
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (June 13, 2023) – A local woman will spend 5 to 7.5 years in prison for selling drugs in Dover and Uhrichsville.
That’s the punishment prosecutors recommended for 35-year-old Chasity Guzman and the one both of Tuscarawas County’s Common Pleas Court judges imposed Monday.
The time Judges Michael Ernest and Elizabeth Thomakos collectively doled out was for 20 drug-related charges Guzman racked up between June of 2022 and this past January.
Her public defender claimed she started selling drugs because of a man she got involved with, but Ernest wasn’t buying it.
“I see two little children in here and your mom, and you still engaged in this type of conduct. It’s incredible that someone would do it once but then to do it again, you can’t really wrap your head around it… I can’t imagine how some man would have such a grip on you that you would do this, and now you’re going to be away from these people.”
Guzman was facing eight counts in the case before Ernest including aggravated trafficking in cocaine and methamphetamine. She admitted to those charges back in April and the other 12 Monday afternoon during an appearance before Thomakos, who went along with the recommended sentence. She hoped Guzman’s children wouldn’t follow in her footsteps.
“They’re approaching the age that you were when you started using marijuana, and everything went downhill from there.”
Prosecutors agreed to drop another drug-related case against Guzman they were getting ready to present to the grand jury. She won’t be eligible for release until 5 years into her prison term, which will be followed by a mandatory 2 to 5 years of post-release control.