Accused meth dealer facing more charges

SANDPOINT — The state is bringing another case against an accused methamphetamine dealer as the defense works to strip evidence from the original case.

Leslie Rae O’Neil was charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance this week for alleged drug transactions that took place a month before the transactions she awaiting trial on.

O’Neil, a 34-year-old from Careywood, was originally arrested last August on charges of possession with intent to deliver and meth trafficking.

But it was revealed during discovery that detectives planted a Global Positioning System device on her vehicle to track her comings and goings in the weeks leading up to her arrest in a Sagle trailer park.

The tracking device was planted while she was meeting with her probation officer, according to court records.

O’Neil’s defense counsel, Doug Phelps, successfully forced Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank to disclose reports and maps from the GPS surveillance, court documents show.

Phelps subsequently moved to suppress evidence gained during O’Neil’s arrest, arguing that the state never obtained a warrant to plant the tracking device and never mentioned using the satellite technology when seeking warrants against O’Neil.

A hearing on the suppression motion is set for next month.

After the motion was filed, two new meth charges were filed against O’Neil. They stem from alleged drug sales last July in which a confidential informant was used, court documents indicate.

O’Neil’s trial in the original case, which involved 55 grams of meth, is set for March. A preliminary hearing in the newer case is pending.

The state is prosecuting O’Neil as a persistent violator because of a prior drug-dealing conviction in Sanders County, Mont., and a 2008 conviction in Bonner County for possessing meth. If convicted, O’Neil faces a sentence of five years to life in prison.