A Hickory woman will serve seven to 10 years in prison for drug and property crimes following her plea during Catawba County Superior Court on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Angelica Leann Crane, 38, was given the active term after her conviction for trafficking fentanyl by possession, possession of methamphetamine, identity theft and obtaining property by false pretense.
The Honorable Donald R. Cureton, Superior Court Judge from Mecklenburg County, imposed terms of the active sentence after Crane entered a guilty plea to the offenses.
The defendant will serve her period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections and also will be required to pay a mandatory fine of $100,000 for the trafficking offense as well as restitution in the amount of $14,695.48 to victims of the identity theft and obtaining property by false pretense charges.
During a traffic stop on February 13, 2025, drug paraphernalia was seen in plain view by a deputy inside the vehicle that Crane was a passenger of in a rear seat. During a custodial scan of the defendant the next day, a trafficking amount of fentanyl was found in her person, and she admitted during an interview that it was the drug.
On December 28, 2024, a vehicle driven by Crane was stopped, and a K-9 unit alerted to drugs in the vehicle. A search of the vehicle led to the recovery of methamphetamine.
From June 22 to August 24, 2023, Crane and several co-defendants made fraudulent charges from the account of a now deceased victim after obtaining his banking information. She will be responsible for restitution in the amount of $14,695.48, jointly and severally with the co-defendants also involved in the criminal acts.
The cases were investigated by Wesley Crowe of the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, and Jacob Watson and Seth Vanderwerken of Hickory Police Department. Assistant District Attorney Howard Wellons prosecuted the matters for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Meredith Scott.