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WARREN -- A Youngstown woman was sent to prison for 18 months on felony convictions involving drugs and a gun.
Tamika Fussell, 43, of Redfern Drive, said her late husband owned the weapon.
But she was sentenced by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice on Thursday after she pleaded guilty in January to an amended indictment of having weapons under disability and attempted possession of cocaine.
The charges stem from a Feb. 25, 2022, incident investigated by Liberty police.
Fussell stated during the sentencing hearing that the firearm found in a motor home belonged to her husband, who had since died. Prosecutors disputed that claim, saying weapons were seen when officers entered Fussell's home that day.
Fussell's previous offenses -- a July 20, 2020, conviction in Judge Andrew D. Logan's court for three counts of possession of cocaine -- made her ineligible to handle weapons.
Defense attorney Morgan Caruso said her client has overcome addiction and mental health issues and is ready to take care of her two young children, ages 9 and 4, who are in the care of the defendant's sister. Caruso urged the judge to give her probation.
Rice, however, said the woman committed these offenses when she was under a treatment-in-lieu of conviction case under Logan's court, and that her background investigation showed that she was at high risk to re-offend.
"My probation officers don't want her," Rice told the attorney.