Melinda L. Warden, 37, of De Soto has been sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug charges. Warden, a persistent offender, previously was convicted of drug possession charges and an assault charge, according to court documents.
On Feb. 16, she pleaded guilty to drug delivery and possession of drug paraphernalia, and on June 28, Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey sentenced her to 10 years for delivery of a controlled substance and fined her $150 for unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. The fine was commuted in lieu of the credit Warden received for serving 150 days in jail, court records said.
Crystal City Police arrested Warden during a traffic stop on Jan. 30, 2020, when she was pulled over for making a turn without signaling. The officer found a scale with a white powdery residue on it, and he arrested her, the probable-cause statement in the case said.
At the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, an officer found two bags containing a crystal-like substance and a bag containing a green-leafy substance inside Warden’s bra, the report said.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Lindsay E. Whalen handled the case.
Court records show Warden pleaded guilty in September 2015 to three felony charges stemming from arrests in 2013 and 2014. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office arrested her in February 2013 for possession of a controlled substance, and De Soto Police arrested her in June 2014 for second-degree assault and possession of a controlled substance.
She was sentenced to three years in prison for the 2013 possession charge and seven years in prison for the 2014 charges. The sentences were served concurrently, or at the same time, according to court documents.
Warden currently is in the Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia.