Palmerton woman pleads to six drug-related counts

A Palmerton woman pleaded to six drug-related criminal counts and a charge of driving under the influence of a controlled substance on Thursday in Carbon County court.

Jessica J. Davis, 24, pleaded to two counts each of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, also possession of a controlled substance and DUI of a controlled substance.

She was arrested on one intent to deliver charge on June 20 by Lehighton police following a vehicle stop along North Street. Methamphetamine was found. The second intent to deliver arrest occurred on Nov. 1, 2016, at the Mahoning Inn, where Lehighton police responded to a report of two people who had overdosed in one of the rooms. Davis was one of the overdose victims.

The other drug charges occurred on June 12, Nov. 1 and Oct. 21, 2017, and March 4. The DUI occurred at the North Street vehicle stop arrest.

Judge Steven R. Serfass accepted the pleas but deferred sentencing. Davis is going to apply for placement in the state’s Intermediate Punishment Program, which includes about seven months in prison followed by a period of time in an intensive inpatient drug and alcohol program followed by a period of time in a halfway house.

Davis, who is an inmate in the county prison, will be transferred to a state correctional institution for evaluation for the program. If she does not qualify, then she will be brought back to Carbon and be sentenced by Serfass.