DOBSON — A Mount Airy woman was given a lengthy suspended sentence for a series of drug-related convictions in Surry County Superior Court in May.
Mahala Lynn Campbell, 45, of North Main Street, was given four consecutive sentences of 19 to 23 months suspended pending the successful completion of three years of supervised probation for each.
The defendant had pleaded guilty by Alford decision to lesser charges of six counts of attempted trafficking opium or heroin, as well as two counts of maintaining a drug vehicle or dwelling, sale or delivery of a schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to sell or deliver a schedule II controlled substance, simple possession of a schedule IV controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, misdemeanor possession of stolen goods or property and three counts of driving while license revoked for a not-impaired revocation.
The earliest offenses, four counts of trafficking and one count of maintaining a drug vehicle or dwelling, were dated October 2010 while the remaining charges spanned from May 2013 to July 2014.
According to Assistant District Attorney Tim Watson, Campbell had sold pills to a confidential informant on at least two of the occasions.
On one occasion, the defendant traded 25 pills for a television, but the pills were not analyzed by the crime lab, Watson stated.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge A. Moses Massey stated that Campbell has the opportunity to “move on with her life in a positive way. If she doesn’t, she will spend time in prison. That will be her election.”
• In a May 10 hearing on a felony probation violation, Bradley Gene Crouse, 36, of Lisa Lane, Mount Airy, was ordered to report to the Surry County Jail on May 13 to serve a 10-day sentence and to pay a minimum of $43 per month against his case beginning in June.
If Crouse fails to make a payment, an order for arrest will be issued with a $10,000 minimum secured bond. Crouse had been placed on supervised probation for a December 2014 breaking and entering conviction.
• On May 18, probation was revoked for Terrence Alexander Haynes, of Dover Church Road, Mount Airy who had been placed on probation following a May 2013 conviction of obtaining property by false pretense.
Hayes will serve a 10- to 21-month active sentence with 191 days credited for time served.
• A judgment was entered in the cases of Candace Leigh Lowe, of Magnolia Street, Lowgap, who failed to comply with the conditions of a 90-96 agreement.
Lowe had been charged with possession of methamphetamine, a felony, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in August 2015 and placed on special probation in January.
On May 10, convictions were entered for both charges after Lowe was found not in compliance. She was given a suspended sentence of six to 17 months, credited 78 days for time served and placed on supervised probation for 30 months with 150 days of electronic monitoring.
She was also ordered to complete 50 hours of community service within 120 days.
Terms of her probation include paying a minimum of $43 per month against her case and to not test positive nor be found in possession of illegal drugs. If those terms are violated, an order for arrest will be issued with a $20,000 minimum secured bond.
• The probation of Christopher Wayne Shumate, 20, of Anderson Road, was revoked on May 11. Shumate had been incarcerated for 22 to 39 months in December 2012 after pleading guilty to discharging a weapon in occupied property, a class E felony.
According to earlier media reports, Shumate had allegedly fired a gun into the vehicle and living room of neighbors against whom he apparently had a grudge, tried to break into their home and broke into the home of the deceased mother of one of the victims, Surry County Sheriff Graham Atkinson said in June 2012.
He was 16 years old at the time.
According to court documents, Shumate had waived his right to legal representation and also pleaded guilty to breaking and entering and felony larceny. He was given consecutive suspended sentences of six to 17 months for those convictions, and placed on 36 months of supervised probation to begin upon his release from the Department of Adult Corrections.
In September 2015, probation for one of those sentences was revoked.
When the second sentence was activated in May, the judge ordered it to be served concurrently with the one activated in September with credit for time served.
