Vancouver woman, 61, gets 14 years on federal drug charges

A 61-year-old Vancouver woman was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in prison on federal drug charges for trafficking methamphetamine and heroin.

Darlene Michelle Sturdevant must serve the sentence, as well as five years of supervised release, for conspiring to possess drugs with intent to distribute them in the Portland-Vancouver metro area, possession with intent to distribute heroin and committing an offense while on release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Oregon.

Sturdevant was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Rene Elene Griffen Nunn, 60, also of Vancouver, when they were stopped by the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration agents in February 2018, court records say. Investigators believed Sturdevant and Nunn were driving from Vancouver to Portland to distribute drugs.

Officers searched the vehicle and found about $156,000, a digital scale and about 87 grams of heroin in Nunn’s purse, prosecutors said.

Investigators then searched a Vancouver residence shared by Sturdevant, Nunn and others and seized an additional 367 grams of heroin and a kilogram of methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sturdevant was charged with drug trafficking and released pending trial. After pleading guilty in October 2018, the DEA learned that Sturdevant was again selling drugs.

On Jan. 29, 2019, agents executed a search warrant at her new residence in Portland. They seized 558 grams of heroin, digital sales, a drug ledger and $27,250, prosecutors said.

As part of her sentence, a judge ordered Sturdevant to forfeit $183,199 seized by law enforcement.

Nunn pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4.