Woman pleads to drug charge
A Slippery Rock woman pleaded guilty in Butler County Court on Tuesday to possessing drugs while being booked into the county jail on an unrelated case in January.
Michelle L. Dipner, 44, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance before county Judge Timothy McCune.
The plea agreement calls for six months' probation, fines, costs and community service to be determined by the judge at sentencing. She was scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 26. Dipner was initially charged with felony possession of contraband by an inmate, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, and false identification to law enforcement authorities, after an incident during a traffic stop on Route 8 in Center Township on Jan. 1, 2016.
The Pennsylvania State Police filed the charges after the traffic stop, where they say Dipner gave police a bogus name. After she was identified, it was found that she was wanted on a warrant, police said.
She was taken to the prison where a search of her purse turned up 53 pills and three packages of Suboxone inside a pill bottle.
Dipner was arraigned and released on her own recognizance; however, bail was later changed to $2,500 cash, posted on June 5, 2017. Several bench warrants have been issued in the case for failure to appear at court hearings.
