A 45-year-old Kansas City woman has been sentenced to spend more than two decades in state prison.

According to Lafayette County Prosecuting Attorney Kristen Ellis Hilbrenner, on June 21, the sentencing followed Heather Graff’s guilty plea to Trafficking in the First Degree on May 3, 2021.

Charges were brought after an Odessa Police officer stopped a vehicle driven by Graff on September 9, 2020. While the officer was conducting his investigation for traffic violations, he became suspicious that other criminal activity was going on because of the behavior of Graff. The officer asked her for consent to search the vehicle, but she refused. Eventually, she admitted to having marijuana in the vehicle, which she handed to the officer. This gave the officer probable cause to search the vehicle. When the officer asked the defendant to step out of the car for the search, her behavior led the officer to frisk her. The officer then located approximately 255 grams of methamphetamine in the defendant’s jacket pocket. Additional methamphetamine was located in the vehicle, and two more baggies were found on the defendant by jailers when she was brought to the Lafayette County Jail.

When Graff was interviewed following her arrest, she admitted to law-enforcement officers that she was an “independent drug dealer” who worked on her own; and she sold methamphetamine to support her habit and to make a living, as she did not have any other employment. Graff indicated she bought this particular methamphetamine for $4,000; and when she sold it, she would double her money. From the investigation, it appears she was selling to people she knew in Lafayette County.

Following the prosecutor’s arguments and recommendation, Judge Dennis Rolf followed the recommendation of the State and sentenced Graff to 25 years in the Department of Corrections.