HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Hollidaysburg woman convicted in May of conspiring to get tobacco and prescription pills into the Blair County Prison was sentenced Monday to three years to six years in a state prison, followed by a year of probation.

Crystal Rose Conner, 36, sobbed and fell to her knees in the middle of the courtroom as Judge Wade A. Kagarise handed down her sentence, then cried out upon hearing the judge order immediate incarceration.

“No,” Conner yelled in the courtroom, drawing attention from sheriff deputies. “I need to call my kids. Please let me call my kids.”

Defense attorney Mark Zearfaus asked Kagarise to delay Conner’s reporting date until Aug. 25, but Kagarise pointed out that Conner, since her conviction, remained out of jail pending sentence.

The judge also told Conner that her sentence allows her to be considered for the state’s Drug Treatment Program, its boot camp program and for early release though its Recidivism Risk Reduction Initiative.

As for contacting her children, Kagarise told her phone calls can be made from the county prison.

In May, a jury convicted Conner of criminal conspiracy, contraband, criminal use of a communications facility and simple possession offenses.

The offenses were based on a plan that was partly revealed through Conner’s prison-recorded telephone calls, in February 2021, with her incarcerated husband, Robert Conner Jr.

The plan called for Crystal Conner to put Suboxone pills in a bag of tobacco that would be placed inside a black plastic bag to be left at a vacant house near the county prison.

At trial, Crystal Conner’s son, William Kern, admitted to putting the plastic bag in an area around a vacant house on the 400 block of Mulberry Street where Robert Conner Jr. could get access to it. But a neighbor saw Kern drop off the bag and alerted borough police who investigated.

At trial, Crystal Conner minimized her role in the plan. She testified in her own defense and said she was scared of her husband and told him what he wanted to hear.

Assistant District Attorney Katelyn Hoover asked Kagarise to hand down a sentence with incarceration, including the mandatory two years for a contraband conviction.

“She played a very active role in this case,” Hoover said.

When Conner addressed Kagarise prior to her sentence being imposed, she apologized for her actions and said she was embarrassed.

“It’s not the person I am,” she told the judge.

Hoover told Kagarise that Conner’s criminal history reflects “a history of trouble with controlled substances.” The district attorney’s office will make no objections if the state Department of Corrections wants to admit Conner into its Drug Treatment Program, Hoover said.

Zearfaus described Conner’s sentence as reasonable in light of the options available to her. The defense attorney said he doesn’t anticipate pursuing any appeals.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.