By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
EL RENO – A Canadian County felon has been sentenced to three years in prison for trying to hide cocaine while an inmate at the Canadian County Jail.
Danesheona Tashay Long, 32, was convicted Aug. 29 of bringing contraband into jail/penal institution in Canadian County District Court.
The Oklahoma City woman had been charged May 3 after Canadian County Jail personnel found the drugs using the jail’s full-body scanner.
Long, represented by public defender Jason Spanich, pleaded no contest to the felony charge.
Canadian County District Judge Paul Hesse accepted Long’s plea and found her guilty.
Pursuant to a plea agreement between prosecutors and the defense, Long was sentenced to serve three years in state prison and ordered to pay a $50 fine and $50 victim’s compensation assessment.
The sentence will run concurrent to a September 2022 Canadian County case in which Long was charged with eluding/attempting to elude police officer, driving under the influence of alcohol, resisting an officer, and driving with a revoked/suspended license. Yukon Police had arrested Long for those crimes.
In November 2022, Canadian County Special Judge Charles Gass sentenced Long to serve 70 days in the Canadian County Jail as part of a five-year suspended sentence.
Judge Hesse on Aug. 29 revoked three years of that suspended sentence when Long was convicted of her latest felony offense.
Long had failed to appear for a community sentencing court hearing March 21, then was arrested April 6 and booked into the Canadian County Jail.
It was on April 24 that jail personnel found the cocaine in her possession at the county lock-up, 304 N Evans.
Canadian County detention officers learned of “possible contraband” in a jail pod – so all inmates were removed as that pod was searched, according to a probable cause affidavit.
After nothing was found when the female inmates were strip searched, they were brought to the booking area to be scanned.
That’s when the contraband was discovered – in plastic and tied shut – in Long’s “vaginal area”, according to Lt. Tamira Jones’ affidavit.
Long claimed the drugs were “in the room when she was booked in, so she just kept it, but it didn’t belong to her or anyone else in the pod.”
FACED UP TO LIFE IN PRISON
The felony charge of bringing contraband into jail/penal institution carries a penalty of one to five years in prison and/or a $100-$1,000 fine.
But because of Long’s previous felony conviction, she faced three years to life in prison.
Long has another felony conviction on her record after pleading guilty in September 2020 to carrying contraband into a penal institution and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in Oklahoma County District Court.
She previously served prison time between October 2020 and December 2021, Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ records show.
The Canadian County Sheriff’s Office in spring 2022 purchased a Tek 84 body scanning machine to keep inmates from bringing contraband – defined as “any weapon, explosives, drugs, alcohol, or money or financial document” – into the county jail.
