(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Cushing woman with a long history of substance abuse has been ordered into the Payne County Drug Court program for possessing methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of Memorial Park in Cushing while driving on a revoked license.
As a condition of a 10-year probationary sentence in her latest drug case, Heather Lenisse Hesson-Newsom, 46, must serve 90 days in the Payne County Jail, Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler ordered Friday, a court official told KUSH.
At the time of her arrest about 7 p.m. on July 7, 2014, Hesson-Newsom was already on 10 years’ probation for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine in 2011 and delivering cocaine in 2006, court records show.
An unknown male had called police that night to report that Hesson-Newsom was driving on a revoked license, Cushing Police Sgt. Adam Harp wrote in an affidavit.
When the police sergeant stopped Hesson-Newsom as she was driving toward her residence, she said “she knew that her license was not valid and tried to call the house for someone to come pick her up, but that she could not get a hold of anyone and drove home,” the affidavit said.
“Prior to Hesson being placed into Officer Rachel Hentges’ police car, she told us that she had a ‘baggie of scrape’ in her bra area.
“Officer Hentges located one small clear zip lock baggy with a crystal-like substance and one small clear plastic baggy containing a white crystal-like substance, which was rolled up and twisted in Hesson’s right side of her bra area,” the affidavit said.
The substance was methamphetamine, the affidavit said.
In a background report compiled for the court, Hesson-Newsom said, “I got a text message to bring the car home. I called my mother and my daughter and they didn’t answer the phone, so I thought that there might be something wrong with my mother.
“I jumped in the car to bring the car back home, and I had the dog with me. On the way home, I saw the police sitting in the park.
“I pulled in the driveway of my house, and the police pulled in behind me. I didn’t have a driving license, and I had a small amount of drugs hidden in my bra.
“I don’t drive very often because I know I don’t have a license, but I have to drive sometime because my mother only has one leg,” she told state Department of Corrections Community Sentencing Division Local Administrator Dee Miller, court records show.
Hesson-Newsom, who said she graduated from Oilton High School, was unemployed at the time of her latest arrest, but had previously worked at restaurants and a hotel, the report said. At the time the background report was compiled, Hesson-Newsom was in jail. “She reported that she knows a lot of people that are involved in drug use and plans to stay away from them after her release.”
“She reported that she has used the following drugs, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, OxyContin, and Dilaudid.
“Ms. Hesson-Newsom stated that she has used more cocaine and methamphetamine because it is more readily available.
“The defendant stated that her drug of choice is Dilaudid, but it is not easy to get,” the report said.
“She stated that she began smoking marijuana in the eighth grade and her last use of any drug was approximately four months ago in December 2014,” the report said.
She said she had attended residential drug treatment at eight different locations, the report said.
“Ms. Hesson-Newsom stated that “I need to attend counseling because there are a lot of things in my past that I haven’t deal with,” including abuse.
Regarding her plea bargain, “She stated that she thought that the recommendation was very fair and is excited to have another opportunity to attend Drug Court,” the report said.
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