Zanesville woman gets probation after drugs were found in a car during a traffic stop

COSHOCTON − A Zanesville woman was sentenced Wednesday in Coshocton County Common Pleas Court for being in a vehicle that contained drugs during a traffic stop.

Brandi M. Keiffer , 37, was indicted in January with one count of aggravated possession of drugs, a second-degree felony, related to methamphetamine from an incident on Jan. 2. Mark A. Vohs, 44, of Zanesville was indicted with the same charge from the same incident.

The Coshocton County Sheriff's Office reported making a traffic stop on Ohio 93, near Township Road 155. A K-9 officer made a positive alert on the vehicle the pair were in. Recovered were narcotics and money.

Keiffer entered a guilty plea on April 1 to a lesser charge of aggravated possession of drugs as a third-degree felony. As part of the plea deal, the Coshocton County Prosecutor's Office agreed to take no position on sentencing or judicial release and to not oppose a bond or a pre-sentencing investigation.

Judge Robert Batchelor gave Keiffer three years of community control sanctions. As part of terms and conditions, Keeifer can haveno contact with Vohs and must complete an ordered drug or alcohol rehabilitation program. Violation of the probation could result in a prison term of 9, 12, 18, 24, 30 or 36 months.

Attorney Marie Seiber said she moved to have the case dismissed based on the vehicle from the traffic stop being released before discovery and she believed evidence in the car would have exonerated her client. This led to the charge being lessened and probation discussed.

Seiber said her client is currently in Alcoholics Anonymous and is pursuing substance abuse recovery. She also had no previous felony convictions.

"I learned a lot from my mistake and I thank you for getting me the help I needed," Keiffer told Batchelor.

Batchelor said while it's unclear what the car might have revealed, he's not convinced Keiffer would have been convicted based on information in the pre-sentencing investigation if the case had gone to trial. However, he knows she clearly understood who she was in the car with.

"It was your decision to enter a plea of guilty to the charge, because you knew what Mr. Vohs does. You might not have knew at that moment there was meth in the car, but you knew he often did that," Batchelor told Keiffer. "You need to be real careful of the cars you get into."

Vohs failed to show for a pre-trial hearing on April 15. He was apprehended May 5 and is currently incarcerated at the Coshocton Justice Center.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Zanesville woman gets probation after drugs were found in a car during a traffic stop