Sequim woman gets five-year sentence for drug offenses

A 33-year-old Sequim woman was sentenced to five years in prison for drug offenses, the Clallam County Prosecutor’s Office noted last week.

On Sept. 15, Marie Haller was sentenced to five years for her plea to delivery of controlled substance — buprenorphine — and attempted introduction of contraband in the second degree.

According to court documents, Haller had been released from prison on Sept. 23, 2021, when, less than two months later, she sent buprenorphine (also known as suboxone) disguised in mail into the Washington State Corrections Center for Women on two separate occasions, the prosecutor’s office said.

The case was investigated by the Department of Corrections Investigations and the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET).

Haller had a criminal history that includes four felonies for possession with intent to deliver controlled substances (heroin and meth) and one felony for unlawful use of a building for drug purposes, according to the prosecutor’s office said.

Michele Devlin, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney who was representing Washington state, said she recognized Haller had “appeared to have turned the corner on her addiction recently and accepted responsibility for her actions,” but that the state requested the prison sentence because Ms. Haller had been given several opportunities to address her addiction in the past, according to a prosecutor’s office press release.

Those prior opportunities, the release noted, included drug court and a prison Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA); neither of which were successfully completed.

Haller was serving the community custody portion of her DOSA when she sent the controlled substances into the prison, the prosecutor’s office said.

Haller and the state representative agreed upon the five-year sentence, the maximum sentence allowed by statute for her delivery charge, the office said.

The Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office works collaboratively with federal, state and local partners, including Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET), to address drug dealing within our community.

The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and OPNET reminds the community that following the discovery of brightly-colored fentanyl pills that appear to have been deliberately designed to cater to young people, the DEA launched the “One Pill Can Kill” Public Awareness Campaign late last year in an effort to educate Americans about the dangers of fake pills. (For more about the campaign, visit justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-announces-dea-seizures-historic-amounts-deadly-fentanyl-laced-fake-pills).