Woman pleads to theft; jail drug smuggling charge dismissed.

Rachelle Fitch with her attorney, Julie Springstead Waltz.

By Allison Scarbrough. Editor.

HART — A 43-year-old Hart woman who allegedly smuggled drugs into the Oceana County Jail that she stole from the adult foster care home where she was living pleaded “no contest” in 27th Circuit Court Monday, June 6, to larceny in a building.

One count of furnishing contraband to prisoners was dismissed against Rachelle Joyce Fitch in a plea agreement. The plea agreement calls for capping her jail time at one year, said Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon.

Because of her fourth-offense habitual offender designation, Fitch faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison, said Judge Anthony A. Monton.

Fitch, who is on parole allegedly smuggled drugs into the Oceana County Jail that she stole from the Fessenden AFC home, at 412 Hart St., by inserting nearly 70 pills inside her vaginal canal.

She broke into a locked medication cabinet where medications were stored at the AFC home, according to the police report. Fitch stole several items from other residents of the home, including a cell phone.

Fitch was lodged in the jail on a parole detainer after testing positive for opiates, according to the police report. When she became “lethargic and had trouble maintaining consciousness,” she was transported to Mercy Lakeshore Hospital in Shelby for a possible overdose, the report states.

“Fitch had smuggled in prescription medication into the jail via insertion of the pills into her vaginal canal,” the report states. The ER nurse found 69 total pills, including two capsules of temazepam, two pills of diazepam, 17 hydrocodone pills, nine morphine pills, 29 lorazepam pills and 10 oxybutynin pills.

Fitch was paroled April 19 after serving time for sentences issued in Mason County for possession of analogues and obtaining controlled substances by fraud, according to the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS). She has served previous prison terms for possession of marijuana, possession of a narcotic or cocaine less than 25 grams and delivery/manufacture of cocaine less than 50 grams.

Fitch entered a “no contest” plea due to intoxication caused by drugs, said her attorney Julie Springstead Waltz.

Sentencing is set for July 18 at 9 a.m.