A Lyndora woman was sentenced to the county Intermediate Punishment Program in Butler County Court Wednesday after being charged with allowing her apartment to be used by another person to sell drugs.

Lydia M. Bowman, 43, was sentenced to 2½ years in the program, with the first 15 months on house arrest with electronic monitoring by President Judge Thomas Doerr.

Bowman previously pleaded guilty to felony possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, heroin, on Sept. 5, after also being charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, which were dismissed as part of the plea.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Thompson, argued to the court that while this was a straight plea, with sentencing entirely up to the judge, there were mitigating circumstances that precipitated a lower sentence, such as Bowman's “extremely poor health” and her requiring 24-hour care.

Thompson presented a letter to the court which he said was from Bowman's doctor, who said that a “term of imprisonment would be fatal.”

“She has taken responsibility for these actions from the moment police showed up at her door,” Thompson said, “has had no violations of pretrial services and is already confined to her home.”

Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz said while the prosecution is sympathetic to her health issues, “when someone allows drug dealers to deal drugs out of her house, we can't minimize that,” and the plea agreement was put forth because of her condition.

The charges stem from an incident on Nov. 4, 2016, at an apartment in the 500 block of Hansen Avenue, Lyndora, when agents with the Butler County Drug Task Force served a search warrant on the residence and turned up 69 stamp bags of suspected heroin and 16 baggies of suspected crack in the raid.

While serving the warrant, officers found Bowman carrying $693 in cash, documents said.

Bowman admitted to allowing Brandon M. Johnson-Jetter, 36, of Homestead, Allegheny County, to use the apartment to sell drugs “from the past three months.”

In addition, she said, the alleged arrangement allowed her the chance to earn money for rent by also dealing drugs that Johnson-Jetter supplied.

Johnson-Jetter also was arrested and charged that day with four felony counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and one count of misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.

He was found guilty by the jury on charges of felony conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance during a jury trial before Judge William Shaffer on March 2.

Johnson-Jetter also was acquitted by the jury of two felony possession with intent charges.

His $50,000 bail was revoked, and he is being held in the Butler County Prison awaiting sentencing, scheduled April 12.

Thompson said Bowman “easily fell prey” to Johnson-Jetter.

“There couldn't be a person more vulnerable,” he said. Thompson said Bowman was a former crack addict, who had kicked the habit for many years before being reintroduced by another person, who then later introduced her to Johnson-Jetter and set up the arrangement.