SOUTH BEND - Hope Adams Stigall, 35, of Raymond, entered guilty pleas to second degree burglary and a separate, unrelated offense of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both felony convictions. The action took place in Pacific County Superior Court Friday afternoon.
Hope, and her husband, Joshua M. Stigall, were jointly charged with second degree burglary. Deputies from the Pacific County Sheriff's Office responded to the report that the pair had taken an air compressor from a Highway 101 garage and fled when confronted by neighbors. Both bailed out of jail while awaiting trial, however, a warrant was issued for Hope from an unrelated district court matter.
When she was arrested for the outstanding warrant, she had a controlled substance consisting of three sleeping pills in her possession, and she did not have a prescription.
"(She) was eligible for a program created by the legislature called a first time offender sentence and while she was able to receive a reduced jail sentence, she was mandated supervised probation by the Department of Corrections, something that might not have occurred after a jury trial," Pacific County Prosecutor Mark McClain told the Herald.
"She will be required to complete drug treatment after being released from custody, and while many prosecutor's offices would have offered a plea to one felony and dismiss the other, I simply was unwilling to do that because I did not believe that adequately protected the community from her and her drug habit," McClain said. "I required a plea to both so that if she returns again she will have a higher offender score, which will result in increased jail time."
Josh Stigall's case remains scheduled for trial next month.
Wardell Guilty
of Bail Jumping
Ronald Wardell, 50, of Chinook, entered a guilty plea to bail jumping.
"Mr. Wardell had been granted an incremental sentence for his May, 2016 possession of a stolen motor vehicle felony," McClain said. "An incremental sentence allows an inmate to serve their jail sentence on the weekends in order to keep their job. However in this case, Mr. Wardell, after serving all but six days of his sentence, simply decided not to complete his sentence. Because so much of a defendant's future sentence depends on his criminal history, I was unwilling to allow this to go without the new felony conviction for bail jumping. I did this so that if he returns again he serves even longer sentence. I also wanted to send the message that those who are granted this kind of consideration should take it seriously."
Wardell will now serve an additional three months in jail before being released.