Chasity Dawn Ross, 36, of Morganton, will serve six to eight years in prison for trafficking methamphetamine by possession following her plea in Catawba County Superior Court on Thursday, August 7, 2025.
The Honorable Jacqueline Grant, Superior Court Judge from Buncombe County, imposed terms of the active sentence after Ross entered the guilty plea.
The defendant will serve her period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections. She also will have to pay a mandatory fine of $50,000.
Officers from Hickory Police Department responded to a call about an unresponsive subject in a vehicle at a convenience store. When officers arrived, they found the defendant in the vehicle with baggies of drugs and other paraphernalia on her and in the car.
She refused to hand over the bags, but when she exited the car, they fell off her and were retrieved. Analysis from the State Crime Lab showed that the substances in the baggies were a trafficking amount of methamphetamine.
Master Patrol Officer B.E. Powell investigated the case for Hickory Police Department. Assistant District Attorney Howard Wellons prosecuted the matter for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Meredith Scott.