Brandi N. Berry

“Just one time turned into four years.”

That is how a Butler woman described her heroin addiction during her sentencing proceeding Thursday in Butler County Court.

Brandi N. Berry, 36, said she was introduced to the drug by her biological father, who she only reconnected with several years ago after not knowing him for most of her life.

She said her father offered her a bag of heroin to cope with hardships in her life, telling her “I could try it just one time without becoming addicted.”

Four years later, Berry said, she was living under a bridge in Pittsburgh after losing her home and children and almost dying from an overdose.

“I was willing to go to any length to fuel my addiction,” she said. “I gave away my kids and a decent life for drugs and living on the street.”

But because of her arrest, Berry is working on bettering herself.

“I am blessed to be alive and have a chance for sobriety and life again,” she said. “I’m ashamed of the person I was, but proud of the person I have become.”

Berry was sentenced to 9 to 18 months in Butler County Prison by Judge William Shaffer.

She was given time-served credit for 249 days. Her parole will be followed by 5 years county probation. She was also ordered to pay court costs.

Read more about Berry’s case in Friday’s Butler Eagle.