PORT ANGELES – A local woman has been sentenced to five year in prison for sending drugs into state prison for women.
Thirty-three-year-old Marie Haller was sentenced after pleading guilty in the case.
According to court documents, Haller had just been released from prison in September 2021, when less than two months later, she sent suboxone disguised in mail into the Washington State Corrections Center for Women on two separate occasions. The Department of Corrections Investigations and the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET) investigated the case.
Prosecutors say Haller had a criminal history that included four felonies for possession with intent to deliver heroin and meth, and one felony for unlawful use of a building for drug purposes.
Prosecutors say Haller had “turned the corner” on her addiction recently and accepted responsibility for her actions. However, they requested the prison sentence because she had been given several opportunities to address her addiction in the past. Haller had been sentenced to drug court and a prison Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA); neither of which were successfully completed.
Haller was serving the community custody portion of her DOSA when she sent the controlled substances into the prison.
The five-year sentence was an agreed recommendation between the State and Ms. Haller. It is also the maximum sentence allowed by statute for her delivery charge.