By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A former Cushing woman, at whose Stillwater apartment a search warrant was served for drugs, has been jailed on $35,000 bail pending a July 6 court appearance on a charge of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Taylor Noelle Mendinghall, 29, whose small child was on the living room couch when police arrived at 10:36 a.m. on June 9, “told me she sells methamphetamine to cover bills because she is a single mom,” Stillwater Police Officer Josh Carson alleged in an affidavit.
Her mother, Heather Hesson-Newsom, 51, who described herself a methamphetamine addict, said she had been staying in her daughter’s apartment for two days, the affidavit alleged. Hesson-Newsom was charged with drug possession as a misdemeanor and released from jail on bail Friday, court records show.
“Heather told me she had methamphetamine hidden on her person,” which was removed from her bra area by a female police detective, the affidavit alleged.
Former Drumright resident Jared Mick, 22, of Stillwater, who was also in the apartment and said he uses methamphetamine intravenously, was charged with drug possession as a misdemeanor and remains in the Payne County Jail, court records show. “Jared told me he threw down a syringe when I entered the room,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“Taylor told me she hides her methamphetamine between the mattresses in her bedroom,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
“In the south bedroom, I located a safe between the mattresses in the room exactly where Taylor said it was.
“In the safe, 16 grams of methamphetamine was found along with 27 grams of ‘cut.’ ‘Cut’ is a substance that looks like methamphetamine (which is) combined with methamphetamine to add more product to the dealer’s supply and to increase profit.
“‘Cut’ is only found on drug dealers and not addicts because it weakens the addictive properties of the drug being sold. An additional set of working digital scales as well as new zip top baggies were found along with the methamphetamine,” the affidavit alleged.
Working digital scales, along with syringes on the bathroom floor and sink and in the bathroom trash, had been found in the bathroom where they were accessible to the child, the affidavit alleged.
“In the far north bedroom, I located a purse with the identification of Heather located inside. I found a zippered make-up bag containing more methamphetamine, a glass pipe and syringes. Heather told me the items were hers and claimed to own the purse,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
The state Department of Human Services conducted an investigation “and had the juvenile’s foster parents respond to the house to take custody of him,” the affidavit said.
“In total, 22 grams of methamphetamine was seized with an estimated street value of $600,” the affidavit alleged.
If convicted of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute, Mendinghall could be given as much as a seven-year prison term and a $100,000 fine.
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