An Arizona woman arrested west of Casper in January for having more than two pounds of heroin in a pink handbag avoided prison time, according to the minutes from her federal court sentencing hearing on Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson sentenced Elsa Veronica Bray to time served plus three years of supervised probation on one count of possession with intent to deliver heroin.

The minutes of the hearing did not explain why Bray received probation for a crime that, according to the indictment, carries a punishment of five to 40 years of imprisonment and not less than four years to lifetime supervised release.

She had been free on a $10,000 bond since she waived her preliminary hearing in January.

Bray pleaded guilty in July.

The case started Jan. 19 when a Natrona County Sheriff’s deputy saw and then pulled over a white sport utility vehicle traveling 72 mph in a 65 mph zone northbound on Wyoming Highway 220.

Bray told the deputy the SUV was a rental, she showed the paperwork from where she rented it in Las Vegas, and she presented her Arizona drivers license to the deputy.

However, the deputy noticed no significant luggage in the SUV, especially since she said she was traveling to Minnesota.

The deputy called for the help of a Casper police officer and his K9 partner, which alerted to the presence of a controlled substance.

The police officer found a pink handbag full of women’s clothing in the back of the SUV, removed the clothing and found a light brown brick package wrapped in plastic cellophane.

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