Stefanie Rachelle Courson, the former Havasupai Elementary kindergarten teacher arrested for selling hundreds of pills of prescription drugs to an undercover police detective in December, finalized a plea deal with prosecutors in court Friday.
Courson, 43, pleaded guilty to a single count of solicitation of sale of narcotic drugs, a Class 4 felony. She will serve between 18 and 30 months in prison and could pay a fine of up to $150,000 at the discretion of the judge, according to court documents.
Seven counts of other drug charges, including the most serious, were dropped as part of the deal. The dropped charges included two counts of sale of narcotic drugs, one count of sale of dangerous drugs and possession charges.
“I felt it was very important that this defendant face prison time for her actions,” Deputy County Attorney Megan McCoy said Monday. “The sale of prescription drugs is running rampant in our community.”
An undercover Lake Havasu narcotics detective bought nearly $3,000 worth of morphine, Xanax, Vicodin and Flexerol pills over three separate deals with Courson in November and December 2013. For the final deal, Courson left school while her students were at lunch, according to the probable cause statement. She was arrested on Dec. 6 after the final sale to the undercover detective.
A grand jury returned an indictment of eight counts on Dec. 13, and she pleaded not guilty at her Jan. 10 arraignment.
A final sentencing hearing is set for July 11, after which Courson will be taken into custody and begin serving her prison term.
Courson’s attorney, Randall Craig, said he would not comment on the case prior to the final hearing.
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