
By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A visitor at the Cimarron Correctional Facility has pleaded guilty to carrying methamphetamine into the private prison in Cushing, court records show.
Maria Luisa Lopez, 33, of Midwest City, who had been free on $5,000 bail, was required by District Judge Phillip Corley to surrender on Aug. 23 to serve one week in the Payne County Jail as a condition of a five-year deferred sentence, court records show.
Lopez was ordered to have a substance abuse evaluation, follow any recommended treatment, undergo random drug tests, comply with the methamphetamine registry, perform 100 hours of community service, and pay a $1,000 fine along with other fees including the cost of her incarceration, court records show.
A female employee at the prison said “she was working the front lobby when she observed Lopez enter the visitors’ restroom,” on Sept. 30, 2018, Cushing Police Officer Justin Sappington wrote in an affidavit.
The employee said, “when Lopez exited the restroom, she noticed a bulge in her cheek,” that contained a baggy of a crystalline substance, the affidavit said.
In an interview with the Cushing police officer, “Lopez advised she was asked to make a one-time delivery into the prison to her boyfriend,” the affidavit said.
“Lopez told me she did not know what was in the package but knew it wasn’t good if she had to sneak it in. Lopez advised she felt better not knowing what she was sneaking in,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Lopez stated that she attempted to hide the contraband in her cheek and was caught by an employee,” the affidavit said.
The baggy of crystalline substance tested positive for methamphetamine, the affidavit said.
Since Lopez was given a deferred sentence, she will not have a criminal record if she successfully completes her five-year probationary period.
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