Five felonies out of 11 total charges, including burglary and various drug charges, against a Damariscotta woman were dismissed in a plea deal in October, and though the woman will serve no additional jail time, a substantial suspended sentence hangs over her head.
Jennifer Rosa, 36, of Damariscotta, pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to two charges of unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, one class C (oxycodone) and one class E (Xanax); three class E charges of violation of condition of release, and one class D charge of engaging in activities (shellfish harvesting) while suspended.
As part of her plea deal, five felony charges against Rosa were dismissed: unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs (oxycodone), class B; unlawful furnishing of scheduled drugs (oxycodone), class C; unlawful possession of scheduled drugs (oxycodone), class C; burglary, class C; and stealing drugs, class C.
The various charges stemmed from conduct (both admitted and alleged) on various dates from September 2013 to October 2014.
The burglary and stealing drugs charges both stemmed from the same incident, in which Rosa allegedly participated in the burglary of a dentist’s office on Main Street in Damariscotta in September 2013.
Rosa allegedly confessed to her role in the burglary, in which Joshua H. Oliver, 34, of Nobleboro, forced his way into the office and stole a box containing morphine, Percocet, midazolam, and triazolam from a locked desk drawer, according to The Lincoln County News archives.
“She told me she and Josh committed the burglary,” Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detective Scott Hayden said in a statement. “He went inside, while she stayed outside.”
Oliver pleaded guilty to the burglary and theft in February.
According to Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wright, the prosecutor, Rosa took immediate responsibility for her actions “from the start” once she was confronted, both in the burglary case and the others.
With the burglary, “she showed the police where the evidence was, drove them around, told them exactly what happened, which led to the conviction of the more [primarily] responsible person, Josh Oliver,” Wright said.
For her felony possession conviction, Rosa was sentenced to four years in prison, all suspended, followed by two years probation and a $400 fine. If she violates her probation, Rosa could have to serve up to the full four-year sentence.
Rosa was also sentenced to 48 days in jail for one of the violation of condition of release charges, but received credit for time she already served; a $400 fine for the Xanax possession charge; and a $300 fine for the engaging in activities while suspended charge.
Rosa received no sentence or fine for two of the violation of condition of release charges, including a violation of curfew and alcohol conditions as recent as Oct. 1.
“My understanding is she’s doing very well, and we wanted to encourage her to continue to do well,” Wright said. “Without trying to minimize anything that she did, I think it’s important that she took responsibility for a chunk of what she did. I think that’s important, but at the same time we don’t want to take someone who’s really moved forward and bring them back a bunch of steps.”
The four-year suspended prison sentence “is a substantial amount of time, especially given someone who really doesn’t have an actual record, much of a record before this,” Wright said. “It’s a significant charge and amount of time over her head, hopefully to continue make her do well.”
Rosa’s attorney, Jonathan Handelman, did not return a call for comment by press time.
