A St. Paul woman who pleaded guilty to stashing narcotics in her 14-month-old child's back pocket, then passing the child to a Stillwater prison inmate during a visit to smuggle them, has been sentenced to jail and probation.
Aelicia Taylor, 30, pleaded guilty in November on charges she tried to pass contraband into a state prison.
She was sentenced Thursday by Washington County District Judge Mary Hannon to a year in jail and two years of probation. All but 60 days of the jail sentence was stayed, and Taylor was ordered to undergo chemical dependency evaluation and treatment, among other conditions. A child endangerment charge was dismissed.
About 5 p.m. last Feb. 22, according to the criminal complaint, Taylor was seen in a visiting room at Stillwater prison, passing her child to inmate Willie H. McDaniel. At one point McDaniel, 26, was seen retrieving something from the child's pocket and putting it into his mouth.
Taylor admitted to police she had brought McDaniel Ecstasy pills encased in a rubber glove, the complaint says. McDaniel was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, where a CAT scan revealed two masses in his stomach. He was brought back to the prison and placed in a monitoring cell, and two balloons containing Ecstasy pills were retrieved.
McDaniel told police the smuggling plan was his idea, and that he needed the drugs to pay back money he owed to another inmate. He was also charged. He has pleaded not guilty, and his jury trial is set for March 21.
JIM ANDERSON
