HANCOCK COUNTY — The woman who was able to sneak two sandwich bags with pills containing methamphetamine into the Hancock County Jail will enter into rehabilitation but will not face additional jail time.
Brooke Pegan, 28, Knightstown, was sentenced in Hancock County Circuit Court Thursday by Judge Scott Sirk to six years, all of which will be served on probation. Pegan was facing up to 14½ years in prison after she was charged with two Level 5 felony counts of dealing meth and trafficking with an inmate; and a Level 6 felony count of possession of meth.
Probation officer Mary Kay Dobbs noted that typically, a person convicted on such charges would receive a prison sentence. But Pegan’s criminal history is minimal, and officials felt she deserved a chance, Dobbs said.
“When we sat down and looked at her trauma history, it was extensive,” Dobbs said. “When you speak with her, it’s like talking to a teenager, because her trauma has kept her stuck there.”
Pegan will be in the county’s heroin protocol program, an intensively supervised probation designed to assist in addiction recovery. If she’s successful, she’ll be able to get back custody of her two children and have a chance at restarting her life. Should she stumble, Pegan will have to serve the remainder of her sentence in a state prison.
Once she’s released from the jail within the next few days, Pegan will report to a halfway house, where a probation officer will supervise her as she makes her way through heroin protocol. Pegan will have a support system there, something officials hope will give her a chance to start over.
“You’ve been given a real chance to change your life,” Sirk said.
Pegan has been in the Hancock County Jail since she was arrested in January on the trafficking charge. That came after she had been arrested Dec. 31, 2018, for possession of methamphetamine. She had been allowed to leave jail after she was put into the county’s pretrial release program.
It wasn’t until days after her release that multiple women inside the jail tested positive for methamphetamine. One of them told investigators that Pegan had given her the drugs.
Pegan also distributed some of the meth pills to other inmates. Investigators were told that Pegan requested no money in exchange for pills.
In total, five prisoners tested positive for methamphetamine. Pegan was arrested again on Jan. 20.
When Pegan was first arrested, she went through standard search measures, which included a pat-down and digital screening, but she was able to sneak in the pills.
