HOLLIDAYSBURG — An Altoona woman who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges — including ones linked to the June 2023 mailed delivery of five pounds of illegal drugs — was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of 4.5 years in prison, with a chance for entry into the State Drug Treatment Program.

President Judge Wade A. Kagarise handed down the negotiated sentence to Breanna B. Turner, 27, who was credited for a year of incarceration time and will be transferred to a state prison.

Defense attorney Kristen Anastasi said Turner should become eligible for the State Drug Treatment Program after about 18-months’ incarceration.

“I believe she will take full advantage of the State Drug Treatment Program,” Anastasi said in court.

But if the state Department of Corrections declines to admit her, then Turner will remain incarcerated at least until she reaches her minimum sentence of 4.5 years.

Anastasi initially said that Turner would be eligible for early release if barred from the State Drug Treatment Program, but Weeks disagreed and said he would have insisted on a minimum five-year sentence if she had a chance for early release.

“Her mechanism to achieve a lower sentence is to do the State Drug Treatment Program,” Weeks said.

The negotiated plea set Turner’s maximum sentence at 10-years’ incarceration, with conditions requiring her to remain in compliance with treatment and counseling recommendations developing from drug and alcohol, mental health and cognitive behavioral evaluations.

“I’m taking this as a lesson,” Turner said in court, where Kagarise imposed the negotiated sentence.

Altoona police twice arrested Turner in June 2023, initially on charges that accused her of public drunkenness and being under the influence of a controlled substance while at an Altoona discount store.

Three days later, Altoona police and officers with the Blair County Drug Task Force were at Turner’s residence on the 500 block of Crawford Avenue, inquiring about a package delivered there.

The U.S. Postal Inspector’s office alerted Altoona police about the pending delivery of a package from an address in Irvine, Calif., that was recognized as a source of illegal drugs.

Police, who found drugs inside the package and evidence of drug usage in the residence, arrested Turner and Kareem Ali Bailey of Newark, N.J., in the drugs-by-mail scheme. In exchange for guilty pleas, Bailey was sentenced in July to seven- to 20-years’ incarceration.

Turner’s third case developed in November 2023 from a local drug-trafficking investigation at a local motel room, with narcotics officers arranging to buy heroin/fentanyl and methamphetamine from Turner.

Weeks and Anastasi also mentioned in court Wednesday that Turner, whose bail was set at $200,000 cash in the drugs-by-mail scheme, had been wrongfully released from the county prison without bail being posted. Weeks said there was an investigation as to what happened and insufficient evidence to warrant criminal charges.

Anastasi recalled Turner informing her that she was told to leave the prison, even though Turner believed nobody had paid her $200,000 bail.

Weeks indicated that after Turner was jailed again, she was granted a temporary furlough to an inpatient drug rehabilitation facility.

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