Woman denies charges in fentanyl exposure

The second fentanyl exposure defendant denied multiple counts of drug trafficking Monday.

Jessica Thomas, 32, has been in custody since her Oct. 20, 2022, arrest facing charges that she allegedly sold 20.25 ounces of fentanyl with co-defendant Regina Rojas, 35.

Thomas and Rojas were arrested in connection with an ill-fated drug sting that sent five Douglas County Deputies to the hospital for exposure to the deadly drug.

One deputy was near death as a result of the incident at Stateline and the jail had to be decontaminated. The Chevrolet sedan the pair drove was so toxic that medics had to be called the following day to treat a deputy investigating the case.

Winning a case at trial will be difficult after her co-defendant was sentenced to 32.5 years in prison on Feb. 13.

The trial date in Thomas’ case has not been scheduled at this time.

A member of a check kiting ring that was targeting Stateline casinos in March 2022 received two suspended 19-48-month prison sentences on Feb. 27.

Rebecca Erin Collins, 39, said she would never have hung out with the people if she had been sober.

She was ordered to make restitution of $1,050 and $1,199.35 to the Hard Rock. She brought $1,000 with her that was applied to one of the cases and ordered to make $200 a month restitution.

She said she is participating in a suboxine program to deal with her opioid additions. Judge Tom Gregory encouraged her to stop using the drug.

“I want you to be drug and alcohol free,” he said.

Should she fail her probation, she could end up in prison for eight years.

• A man who openly exposed himself at the Taildagger Café was sentenced to a suspended 364 days in jail Monday.

Jorge Alvarez Placencia, 47, committed the gross lewdness offense June 14, 2022.

“I regret what I did very, very much,” said Placencia. “I want to apologize to everyone, especially to the person who was offended by my actions.”

According to court documents, a psycho-sexual evaluation revealed that Placenecia is not a high-risk to reoffend such a crime and he has no prior convictions.

As a condition of his probation he must spend 30 days in jail which are to be served weekends beginning March 10.