By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater woman on probation for conspiracy to possess contraband in a penal institution has been released from the Payne County Jail on $75,000 bail pending a Sept. 1 court appearance on a felony charge of trafficking more than 20 grams of methamphetamine in Stillwater on July 2.
If convicted of having 29 grams of methamphetamine with a street value of $2,000, Staci Nichole Etheridge, 35, could be given a prison term of 10 years to life and fined $25,000 to $100,000, court records show.
Etheridge was arrested at 12:20 p.m. on July 2, about 20 minutes after a search warrant was served at her residence on S. Sangre Road, according to an affidavit by Stillwater Police Officer Josh Carson, who traveled there with the Stillwater Special Projects Unit, an affidavit said.
Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Nack “requested my assistance at this location in investigating an ongoing drug distribution enterprise,” the Stillwater officer alleged in his affidavit.
“When I arrived at the door, I began knocking loudly and announcing our presence. After some time, it was clear nobody was going to answer the door.
“I told Sergeant Blakey to breach the front door with our ram. The door came open and I encountered a female in the living room, later identified as Staci Etheridge,” the Stillwater officer alleged in his affidavit.
After Etheridge was taken into the kitchen, she said a man “dropped two ounces of methamphetamine at her house, but she had already sold some,” the affidavit alleged.
“In the southeast bedroom, methamphetamine and packaging material were located in a purse along with Staci’s identification,” the affidavit alleged.
After she was arrested, the officer “contacted DHS and arrangements were made for the juvenile male (her son) to live with family,” the affidavit said.
According to court records and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Etheridge pleaded guilty in 2018 in Oklahoma County to conspiracy to commit the felony of possession of contraband in a penal institution, for which she was placed on probation for eight years under a suspended sentence.
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