Clarksville woman sentenced to prison in Highland County Task Force case
A Clarksville woman was sentenced this week to prison, and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution and fines, after pleading guilty to meth trafficking charges in connection with a Highland County Task Force investigation.
Kristine Kinnison, 56, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury in March and charged with 10 counts, including three counts of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine, one second-degree and two third-degree felonies; two counts of aggravated possession of methamphetamine, a second-degree felony and a third-degree felony; three counts of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, all fourth-degree felonies; and two counts of possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a fourth- and fifth-degree felony.
According to court records, Kinnison pleaded guilty in May to the three counts of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine, with the second-degree felony count amended to another third-degree felony charge.
Those three charges are for three separate dates in 2023 — Nov. 14, Dec. 8 and Dec. 15 — when Kinnison is accused of “knowingly selling or offering to sell” meth in an amount equal to or exceeding bulk amount but less than five times bulk amount.
At her sentencing Wednesday, defense attorney JD Wagoner asked Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss to consider delaying sentencing so Kinnison could graduate from her treatment program.
“I can honestly say the woman here before today is nowhere near the woman that came in my office when this indictment started,” Wagoner said.
Kinnison said she wanted to “apologize for my actions” and said that at the time of the offenses, she “wasn’t making clear decisions” due to suffering “a lot of grief.”
“I am accountable for those decisions today,” she said. “I do respectfully apologize for my behaviors.”
However, Coss referred to Kinnison’s “ongoing criminal history,” saying it wasn’t an “off-the-wall thing.
“Certainly, you’ve graduated to much more serious criminal conduct, but it’s one thing to be abusing drugs, and it’s another thing to be selling them,” Coss said.
Coss sentenced Kinnison to 12 months in prison on the first count, 18 months on the second count and 24 months on the third count, to be served consecutively for a total of 54 months in prison.
Coss ordered Kinnison to pay $15,000 in fines, with $11,250 to be paid to the Highland County Task Force and $3,750 to the Highland County Prosecutor’s Office. She was separately ordered to pay $1,130 in restitution to the Task Force.
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