Raymond woman sentenced to 9½ years

SOUTH BEND - Patricia Clifford, 33, of Raymond entered a guilty plea to possession of methamphetamine, bail jumping, and second degree assault and was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months, and was also sentenced to 4 years and 3 months months for drug possession and bail jumping in prison, followed by 18 months of Department of Corrections community custody. The sentencing took place in Pacific County Superior Court Friday afternoon.

Clifford's case began in 2013 when Raymond Police Officers contacted Clifford and her companion, Michael Jones, regarding an outstanding warrant. While Jones was being placed in custody, Clifford took off running and eventually was able to escape the arresting officer. Prosecutor's secured an arrest warrant for Clifford and was eventually arrested in Grays Harbor County. Clifford subsequently posted bail and was scheduled to appear in Pacific County Superior Court; however, Clifford failed to appear as directed, which resulted in an addition charge of bail jumping. Clifford, later, entered a guilty plea to both offenses; however, prior to being sentenced, Clifford assaulted another inmate, fracturing her orbital socket.

"Ms. Clifford was pending a sentencing hearing on her request for a drug offender sentencing alternative, which, in short, cuts the amount of time spent in prison in half and the balance is served on DOC (Dept. of Corrections) community custody, which most people call probation," said Pacific County Prosecutor Mark McClain. "But because she assaulted someone in the jail, that sentence was unacceptable to me and I would not agree to anything other than a plea to the felony strike offense in addition to the other offenses and the resulting prison sentence. We cannot allow inmates to assault each other and those offenses must be immediately addressed with a substantial sentence."

Woman Gets Maximum Sentence

Danielle Newton, 37, of Longview entered a guilty plea to delivery of a controlled substance, bail jumping, and escape from community custody and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, followed by 1 year of community custody.

An inmate alerted the corrections staff to Newton indicating that she was sharing contraband prescription medication, which had been smuggled into the jail with another inmate. Corrections staff confronted Newton about the pills and eventually Newton retrieved the medication from her crotch area and gave them to corrections officers.

While the matter was pending trial, Newton, who had been released on bond, failed to appear. At the time, Newton was also being supervised by the Department of Corrections on unrelated matters.

"At the time Newton fled the pending drug charges, she also failed to report to DOC, which constituted a separate offense," McClain said. "Given Ms. Newton's significant felony history, I believed the maximum sentence of 60 months was warranted."