An Elizabethton woman has been sentenced to a total of seven years in prison after convictions on meth charges and possession of drugs inside the Carter County Detention Center.
Samantha Marie Parlier appeared in Carter County Criminal Court on Wednesday before Judge Robert E. Cupp and was ordered to serve her time after motions asking for alternative sentencing were denied.
Parlier entered a guilty plea in January of this year to 10 counts of promotion of methamphetamine manufacture, one count of possession of contraband in a penal facility and one count of tampering with evidence. As part of the plea agreement reached by Parlier and her attorney with the District Attorney General’s Office, 10 additional counts of promotion of methamphetamine manufacture and one count of attempted promotion of methamphetamine manufacture against Parlier were dropped.
Authorities said the charges of promotion of methamphetamine manufacture against Parlier were related to numerous purchases of pseudoephedrine, which officers alleged was to be used in the production of the drug.
Parlier was charged with tampering with evidence after officers accused her of hiding syringes during another investigation to prevent the discovery of the evidence.
She was charged with possession of contraband in a penal facility after corrections officers at the Carter County Detention Center reported finding her in possession of several pills that were identified a generic form of the drug Seroquel.
Parlier was sentenced to two years in prison on each of the 10 counts of promotion of methamphetamine manufacture, with those sentences running concurrent with each other. The two-year sentence will also run concurrent with the sentence of four years she received on the conviction on tampering with evidence.
She was sentenced to three years in prison on the conviction for possession of contraband in a penal institution. That sentence will run consecutive to the other sentences giving her a total effective sentence of seven years. She was additionally ordered to pay a total of $10,050 in fines for the convictions as well as a total of $750 to be paid to the Drug Testing Fund under the Tennessee Drug Control Act.
Parlier’s attorney had filed a motion requesting that Parlier be considered for sentencing under diversion, which would allow the convictions to be removed from her record after completing her sentence, and also requested that alternative sentencing be considered for Parlier.
Both requests were denied at Parlier’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday and Judge Cupp ordered that Parlier serve her sentence.