Troy woman pleads not guilty to distribution charges

A Troy woman faces multiple charges after authorities allegedly found methamphetamine and “drug distribution kits” in her home during a probation home check on her boyfriend in March.

Sarah Leann Alyea, 34, pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs with intent to distribute and a misdemeanor count of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia in Lincoln County District Court on May 11.

Authorities arrested Alyea on March 13 after performing a home check on Jason Kelso, her live-in boyfriend.

Detective Brandon Holzer of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Kelso’s probation officer, Steve Watson, were approaching the couple’s home in Troy when they spotted Kelso exiting via the back gate, court documents said.

In an affidavit, Holzer wrote that Kelso, circled by law enforcement officers, surrendered and was arrested. He later admitted to using methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.

With Kelso headed to the Lincoln County Detention Center, authorities called in U.S. Border Patrol Agent Dave Grainger and his narcotics K9. The dog alerted to the presence of drugs in the trailer’s back bedroom.

Alyea, not yet in custody, told investigators that the couple slept in that room. During a subsequent search, authorities found boxes storing multiple pipes and individually wrapped bags containing a crystal, methamphetamine-like substance, court documents said.

They also found hundreds of unused bags and a scale disguised as a pack of cigarettes, court documents said. Along with the methamphetamine-like substance, investigators found four narcotic pills, medical marijuana and additional loose marijuana in a jar, court documents said.

Alyea told authorities that the boxes had come from the dump, where Kelso and a friend had found them, according to the affidavit. She denied knowing about the drug paraphernalia with the exception of a lone marijuana pipe, Holzer wrote.

“After speaking with Sarah, I could tell she was not telling me everything and was being very vague,” Holzer wrote. “I went and placed Sarah under arrest and placed her into handcuffs.”

Kelso similarly denied knowledge of the drugs during a follow up interview at the county lockup. In his affidavit, Holzer wrote that Kelso said he brought the boxes back from the dump without knowing what was in it.

“I find it very unlikely that both [Alyea] and [Kelso] did not know that there was a neat and organized drug distribution kit on their stand near their bed,” Holzer wrote.

Kelso, brought up on charges of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs with intent to distribute and misdemeanor criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, initially pleaded not guilty.

But he changed his plea after striking a deal with prosecutors earlier this month. In exchange for pleading guilty to criminal possession of dangerous drugs, a felony, prosecutors will drop the misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

Prosecutors will recommend he serve four years behind bars at his sentencing hearing.

Alyea is slated to return to district court July 27 for an omnibus hearing. A pretrial conference is scheduled for September with a trial date of Oct. 13.