A local woman sentenced to prison last year for her role in helping to dispose of a homicide victim was arrested early Sunday on felony drug charges after a traffic stop.
Melissa Jere Wineland, 40, who lists a Hobson Avenue address, was taken into custody shortly after 2:30 a.m. and charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance, meth, and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, each punishable by up to six years in prison.
Wineland was being held on a $7,500 bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, Garland County sheriff's Deputy Justin Parker and Cpl. Jon Lane made a traffic stop on a white GMC Jimmy for reportedly speeding 15 mph over the speed limit on Buxton Loop.
While Lane spoke to the driver, Parker approached the front seat passenger, identified as Wineland, and noted she appeared "extremely nervous," continuously moving in a rocking motion, fidgeting with her hands and her voice shook when she spoke.
When asked about any weapons or illegal items in the vehicle, Wineland said there shouldn't be any and dispatch advised Wineland was on active supervised probation with a search waiver on file.
After more discussion, Wineland reportedly admitted to having a marijuana pipe so Parker asked her to get out. She told him the pipe was in the rear cargo area of the vehicle and upon searching the deputy allegedly located a glass pipe with meth residue, two used syringes with blood and meth residue, and a small zippered container with 0.6 gram of what later tested positive for meth so she was taken into custody.
On Oct. 8, 2018, Wineland had pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony count of tampering with physical evidence and was sentenced to six years in prison, with four years suspended. She also pleaded guilty to possession of meth with purpose to deliver and possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver and was sentenced to two years in prison on each count to run concurrently with the tampering sentence and with the revocation of her probation from a 2015 conviction on drug charges.
The tampering charge stemmed from Wineland's arrest on Oct. 24, 2017, in connection with the death of Cory Richardson, 31, whose body was found the day before next to the main entrance of Greenwood Cemetery, 701 Greenwood Ave. Wineland was the first of seven suspects ultimately charged in connection with Richardson's death, with three others also pleading guilty to their roles while three others are still awaiting trial.
According to previous affidavits, Richardson was killed or severely wounded at 106 N. Patterson St., Wineland's residence, and transported by car to the cemetery. The car was located and searched the day Richardson was found and reportedly had a large amount of blood in the back seat.
After Wineland's arrest, she admitted she and another suspect transported the body to the cemetery from her home and later she and another suspect took the car to a car wash and attempted to clean up the blood.
According to witnesses, Richardson was reportedly pistol-whipped and then shot resulting in his death after using a counterfeit $100 bill to pay for some meth he obtained from one of the suspects.
Local on 12/10/2019