Accused meth dealer sentenced

SANDPOINT - Jurisdiction is being retained in the case of a Ponderay woman accused of selling methamphetamine.

That means Leslie Rae O'Neil has a shot at being released onto probation after serving six months in the Idaho Department of Correction. But if she stumbles in prison or while on probation, O'Neil is facing a sentence of up to five years.

O'Neil, 33, was sentenced on Oct. 21. She was originally charged with one count of delivery of meth, two possession counts, plus two counts of destroying evidence she managed to smuggle inside the Bonner County Jail.

O'Neil and her husband, Michael Ray O'Neil, were newlyweds when they were busted in June for selling the addictive stimulant. The arrests were part of an undercover Sandpoint Police investigation, according to court documents.

Leslie O'Neil was charged with destruction of evidence for allegedly disposing of meth in a jail sink and smashing a meth pipe under her foot.

In a plea agreement with the state, she entered Alford pleas to two counts of meth possession. Under such a plea, a defendant admits no wrongdoing but concedes they could be convicted if the case went before a jury. In exchange for the pleas, the rest of the charges were dismissed, court records show.

Michael O'Neil, 37, was charged with delivery of meth in connection with the case and was sentenced to two to five years in prison. Jurisdiction was retained in his case and he was released from custody in August, according to IDOC records.

The takedown spun off another arrest a few weeks later, when a nephew of Michael O'Neil allegedly burst into a Sandpoint woman's apartment because he believed she betrayed the couple by informing police of their illicit activities.

Robert James Sutton Jr. was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for reportedly pointing a cocked .45-caliber pistol in the 28-year-old woman's face. He was also charged with witness intimidation.

The alleged victim denied cooperating with police, an assertion which was contradicted by an officer who testified at Sutton's preliminary hearing. The case against Sutton, a 25-year-old from Spokane Valley, Wash., is still pending.