Woman receives state prison sentence
A Butler woman, who previously pleaded guilty in eight cases — including drug delivery, child endangerment and hitting a police officer with a car — was sentenced to state prison in Butler County Court on Thursday.
Shayna M. McDowell, 32, was sentenced to two to seven years in state prison by Judge Timothy McCune.
She was also ordered to pay $600 in fines, $100 in restitution and court costs, and complete 50 hours of community service.
McDowell previously pleaded guilty to five counts of felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance-heroin, and one count each of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person and possession of drug paraphernalia in eight cases on Sept. 6.
She was initially also charged with several related counts in each case, all of which are to be dismissed as part of the pleas.
The drug delivery cases involve incidents on March 20, 2013, in Butler, when police say she delivered 10 stamp bags of heroin; in Butler Township on July 22, 2015, when police said she delivered heroin; on Sept. 16, 2015, when police said McDowell sold 18 stamp bags of heroin to an informant for $180 at a parking lot on West Jefferson Street; in Butler on July 5, 2016, when police said McDowell sold an informant $80 worth of heroin; and on July 6, 2016, in Butler, when Butler County Drug Task Force said she sold a police informant heroin for $40 at Butler Memorial Park.
A ninth drug delivery case was also withdrawn as part of the agreement.
The paraphernalia charge comes from an incident in Butler on Sept. 18, 2015, when police said McDowell was found with paraphernalia — a metal spoon, syringe and pipe.
Vice officers allege in that case that she had 11 stamp bags of heroin hidden in her bra when she was arrested at a West Jefferson Street apartment building that was under police surveillance for drug activity.
Following a search warrant, 11 more bags of heroin, 41 syringes, a drug-cooking spoon and drug-smoking pipe were found.
The child endangerment count comes from an incident in Butler on May 21, 2016, when police said she fell asleep while baby-sitting an infant boy, who was later found outside wandering in the street, dressed in a diaper and a T-shirt.
Police spoke to the boy's father at the home. He said that he had left his son in McDowell's care. An officer went upstairs and found the defendant, who lives at the house, in bed sleeping.
And the last case occurred in Butler Township on May 16, 2017, when police said she hit a Butler Township officer with a car during an apparent getaway at the Point Plaza shopping center on New Castle Road.
Police responded to a call for an intoxicated woman, later identified as McDowell. As officers spoke to her, she put the car in reverse and backed out of a parking space, pinning an officer between the vehicle and a parked car.
The officer was able to roll up and onto the hood of the suspect vehicle to avoid serious injury, documents state.
The vehicle then sped off, before McDowell abandoned it and took off running into a wooded area around Alameda Park. She was later arrested in Summit Township.
Police said they searched McDowell and found her with 76 stamp bags of suspected heroin — five in her pocket and 71 in her bra.
McDowell admitted that she was on her way to sell someone the five bags she had in her pocket, documents state. Those charges are contained in the case that was withdrawn as part of the plea.
