Soccer mom accused of drug sales free on $100,000 bail

After six months in custody, a woman accused of using her daughter to help distribute drugs is free after her mother posted a $100,000 bond on Dec. 13.

Janie Michelle Phillips, 35, is denying the charges and is scheduled to appear in East Fork Justice Court for a Jan. 19 preliminary hearing after denying multiple felonies last week.

Phillips was arrested on June 14 after the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Street Enforcement Team, along with officers of the Tri-Net Task Force and Sheriff’s investigators served search and arrest warrants at the Stodick Parkway Apartments in Gardnerville.

Phillips’ two children were in the apartment at the time the arrest warrant was issued.

Authorities allegedly found psilocybin mushrooms and methamphetamine in the apartment. Because her child was allegedly participating in the drug buys, she also faces multiple charges of child abuse or neglect, allowing a child to be present at a drug transaction, maintaining a place for unlawful use of a controlled substance, conspiracy to violate the Uniform Controlled Substances act and three counts of possession of a controlled substance.

According to court documents, one of the sales Phillips is accused of conducting was while she was helping to coach a youth soccer game.

Phillips was an employee at Douglas County Mental Health and has lived in the Valley since 2011, according to her attorney, Maria Pence.

The preliminary hearing won’t determine Phillips’ guilt.

Prosecutors present marginal or slight evidence to show that there was a crime and that it could have been committed by Phillips.

Should Phillips be ordered to district court she would be given another arraignment date.

• A man who menaced a Home Depot employee with an axe during the commission of a theft is in Douglas County custody after he allegedly left his fingerprints at the scene.

Juan Filipe Tellez-Rico, 21, was extradited back to Douglas County on Dec. 13 in connection with a March 9 theft.

According to court documents, two men were pushing a cart past the theft detectors at the store when they went off. An employee who attempted to stop them said a man with an axe threatened him and he let them past

A bystander obtained a license plate as all three left in a silver 2017 Ford Fusion with California license plates.

Tellez-Rico is facing charges of robbery with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon and grand larceny.

He appeared in East Fork Justice Court on Friday with an interpreter.