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April 2, 2005Woman gets jail, ban on contactShe mailed pot to boyfriend behind barsByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - A Cheboygan woman is to have no contact with the incarcerated boyfriend to whom she admitted mailing drugs at a local prison. Melissa LaHaie, 31, was sentenced Friday morning to a month in jail and 36 months of probation by 13th Circuit Court Judge Philip Rodgers for mailing marijuana to David Vanalstine at the Pugsley Correctional Facility in Kingsley. Rodgers also ordered LaHaie to have no contact with Vanalstine, 33, who is serving time at the Kinross Correctional Facility for his part in the scam. "If you initiate contact to visit him, take calls or receive letters, that will be a violation of your probation," he said. LaHaie told the court that she sent the drugs to be sold in prison because she was in financial straits, spending $300 a month on collect phone calls from Vanalstine and sending the man money each month. "I take full responsibility," said LaHaie. "Desperate times made me do stupid things." LaHaie and attorney Gerald Chefalo asked the court for a delayed sentence because of health problems stemming from a 1997 car accident that left her in a wheelchair. But Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider argued against a delayed sentence, citing the seriousness of the two original felony counts before LaHaie pleaded guilty to delivery of marijuana. "The original charges in this case were conspiracy and introducing marijuana into a prison, which is disruptive," he said. "It is more serious than making it available on a street corner." Rodgers agreed, telling LaHaie she received a "fair agreement" considering she made three prison deliveries before being caught. "There is no question you should feel ashamed about what you did, but you can overcome this," Rodgers said.
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