Charges: West Valley mom sold drugs with her children present


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SPRINGVILLE — A West Valley woman was driving a car with about $10,000 worth of drugs and three unbuckled young children inside when she led officers on a pursuit last week, according to criminal charges filed Wednesday.

Sadie Shantel Leavitt, 25, is charged in 4th District Court with seven felonies and 10 other crimes stemming from the Dec. 1 incident in Springville.

Leavitt led officers on a low-speed chase after police followed her and attempted to pull her over following a drug deal they suspected she had carried out at Love's Travel Stop, 358 S. 2200 West, according to charging documents.

After Leavitt allegedly failed to stop for more than a mile, police were able to box in her vehicle. Officers found a 4-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and a 4-month-old girl in the car, all of whom are Leavitt's children. None of them were properly restrained, the charges state.

A K-9 search of the vehicle yielded about $2,900 worth of meth and $7,300 worth of heroin, or just over 1,000 individual uses' worth of those drugs, according to the charges. A scale was also found in the car.

Leavitt had about $2,300 in her wallet, mostly in small bills. She allegedly admitted to selling drugs to a man at Love's Travel Stop shortly before the vehicle pursuit, police wrote in the charges.

"Sadie stated it was hard to maintain a lifestyle once you became introduced to it. … When asked why she would have narcotics around her children and why she would conduct drug transaction in front of them, she stated she knew it wasn't the best thing to do but she really didn't think about it," the charges state.

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The three children were placed in the custody of a relative.

Leavitt is charged with distribution of a controlled substance and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, first-degree felonies; failure to stop or respond at the command of police and three counts of causing a child to be exposed to a controlled substance, third-degree felonies.

She also faces charges of use or possession of drug paraphernalia and three counts of reckless endangerment, class A misdemeanors; driving with a measurable controlled substance, a class B misdemeanor; plus failure to stay in one lane and three counts of failure to wear a seat belt or use a child restrain device, all infractions.

Leavitt is currently being held in the Utah County Jail. Her prior criminal history in Utah includes a 2011 conviction for drug distribution in a drug-free zone and child endangerment, for which she served 60 days in jail, court records show.

Driving with a suspended license charges have been filed against Leavitt three times since August. She was also charged this year with driving with unrestrained children.

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Ben Lockhart

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