By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Pawnee woman, who pleaded guilty on April 1 to trafficking 18.35 grams of fentanyl and possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute during an Aug. 8, 2024, traffic stop on Highway 51 near Yale by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Zach Wheeler, has been ordered into the About Face Women’s Program as a condition of a 20-year probationary sentence.
Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling told Angela Dawn Ashley, 44, in court last week when he approved the prosecutor’s recommended sentence, “I believe this is an excellent program.” First Assistant District Attorney J.R. Kalka said, “This is a new program. She will remain in custody until she is transported to the house on Monday.”
According to District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas, “The About Face Women’s Program will provide intensive long-term residential treatment in a group home environment with support designed to reduce criminal recidivism of women in Logan and Payne counties, by equipping and empowering these women for lifelong change.”
The recovery program, based in Stillwater and directed by Dee Miller, consists of 12-month structured residential group home treatment involving mental health/substance abuse counseling, treatment, therapy, and educational/vocational training, along with physical, occupational and psychological evaluations, as well as housing referral and aftercare mentoring.
Due to her criminal record in Creek, Tulsa and Oklahoma counties, Ashley was facing the possibility of receiving two life prison sentences on her Payne County drug charges — until her attorney Michael Coulson achieved a plea agreement with the prosecution for her to enter the new About Face Women’s Program.
