Casper Woman Sentenced to Prison for Endangering Children With Methamphetamine
A woman who previously avoided time behind bars after admitting in 2014 to endangering a child with methamphetamine is now headed to prison on similar charges.
Hope Marie Gallagher, 30, was sentenced Tuesday in Natrona County District Court to four to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of endangering a child with methamphetamine and one count of methamphetamine possession.
Judge Thomas Sullins ordered the sentence to run concurrently with a three- to four-year prison sentence Gallagher is serving after having her probation revoked in a similar case. Gallagher was also given credit for 141 days served and a recommendation for the intensive treatment unit.
Gallagher was sentenced in 2014 to a four- to five-year suspended prison sentence and three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to two counts of child endangerment with methamphetamine.
Her probation was revoked Oct. 7, 2016, following her arrest during a traffic stop in July.
Court documents say shortly before 9 p.m. on July 15, a Casper police officer stopped Gallagher's Buick after watching her roll through a four-way stop. The plates on the Buick didn't match -- they reportedly belonged to a white Kia sedan.
The officer approached Gallagher and noticed she was fidgety to the point where the officer suspected methamphetamine use. The front passenger allegedly displayed similar behavior.
Gallagher's two children were in the back seat of the Buick. One of them was not properly seated, according to the affidavit.
The officer had all four get out of the car and brought in a drug dog. The dog indicated at the driver's side door.
A search of the car turned up multiple jeweler's baggies of methamphetamine residue, a glass meth pipe, small amounts of marijuana and about 13 grams of methamphetamine, some of which was reportedly hidden inside Gallagher.
The officer took protective custody of both children and notified the Wyoming Department of Family Services. In his affidavit, the officer noted the children appeared to show signs of drug-endangered child syndrome.
Court documents say neither child "seemed overly concerned or surprised by the ordeal and/or police contact."
"Both children were quick to assume Gallagher was being arrested even before the controlled substances were located," the affidavit says. "The children were well-versed in the process with DFS and home replacement."