Brandi 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.

Berry pleaded guilty Feb. 16 to two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

State police initially charged Berry July 13 with felony possession with intent, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia after an incident Sept. 14, 2016; and the same charges again after an incident Oct. 5, 2016.

The remaining charges were dismissed as part of the sentence.

Police said both incidents involved drug transactions conducted by an undercover officer with Berry, with 48 stamp bags of heroin for $300 in the 500 block of Virginia Avenue in Butler in September 2016; and 30 stamp bags of heroin for $210 on Wayne Avenue, Butler, in October 2016.

Police said the suspected heroin also tested positive for fentanyl, weighing in at 2.02 grams from September and 0.72 grams from October.

Berry was later arrested in Allegheny County in July 2017.

First Assistant District Attorney Patricia McLean said the plea agreements had no sentencing recommendation, and asked that Berry be sentenced to prison time as “this was straight up drug dealing.”

Berry's attorney, Jeffrey Thompson, said while it was “a lot of heroin that got passed and that should not be minimized,” Berry was selling the drugs to fuel her own addiction.

Thompson said Berry has completed several programs while in the county jail, and asked for the county jail sentence.

“This is an addict who made very bad decisions, very wrong decisions, but she needs treatment and if released will continue with her sobriety,” he said. “She is at the prime age to turn her life around and this could be the turning point.”