La Plata, MD – Samantha Nicole Thomas, 33 of Waldorf, tried to run, but in the end the law won.
Thomas was sentenced Tuesday, Jan 17 to 16 years of active time for attempting to smuggle heroin into the Charles County Detention Center July 30, 2015.
Thomas has had an interesting couple of weeks leading up to her incarceration.
She was scheduled to appear before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Amy J. Bragunier Jan. 11 but called her attorney, Charles County Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Connell that morning, saying she was at University of Maryland Charles Medical Center in La Plata with an infection.
“She was thinking she had pneumonia,” Connell told the judge. “After numerous blood tests, doctors determined she has an infection that affects her heart.”
“I’m going to issue a bench warrant,” Bragunier said. “I would like her to be brought here.”
By Friday, Jan. 13, Thomas was scheduled to appear before Charles County Circuit Court Judge Thomas R. Simpson Jr. for arraignment on the bench warrant and again, was not in court. “She is still in the hospital,” Connell told Simpson on Friday. “I’m waiving her appearance.”
“She has already got an active bench warrant,” the judge noted, setting the matter back before Bragunier Friday, Jan. 20.
The only problem was, Thomas left the hospital Jan. 13 without being discharged.
Sandra Wade of Mechanicsville, whose son, Christopher Wade, 35 of Mechanicsville, died last October in Waldorf, allegedly from heroin supplied by Thomas, confirmed she had fled. “I heard she left the hospital with the IV still in her arm,” Wade said.
Friday the 13th was not the day to be on the lam, however. Thomas was apprehended later that day.
She was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 17 in Charles County District Court but Bragunier sentenced her to 16 years with no chance for parole instead.
Thomas was indicted by a Charles County Grand Jury Dec. 16 on manslaughter charges related to Wade’s death and will face additional legal proceedings in court later this year.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com