Vegas woman faces drug charges in Hill County

A Las Vegas woman who prosecutors say called 911 while in a drug-induced suicidal state at a Gildford home last year pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to several drug charges in District Court.

Sage Autumn Alexander, 24, pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. She entered the same plea to the misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.

Alexander, who has a pretrial hearing scheduled for June 21, faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $51,000 fine if convicted.

Alexander recently waived her right to fight extradiction to Hill County after Las Vegas police arrested her in her home state and discovered she had outstanding warrants in Montana. Alexander arrived in Havre on Monday and was being held on $7,500 bond, which District Judge John Warner reduced to $3,500 during her arraignment.

On Feb. 21, 2001, at about 6 a.m., two sheriff's deputies responded to the residence of 47-year-old Jay Flynn, a Gildford resident, after Alexander threatened to kill herself with a .22-caliber rifle, according to a criminal complaint filed in District Court.

Alexander told a deputy that she and Flynn had stayed up all night smoking marijuana and methamphetamine, and ingesting Xanax pills, documents said.

After a couple hours, deputy Monte Reichelt convinced the woman to relinquish the weapon, the complaint said.

While executing a search warrant later that day, law enforcement officers found 47 grams of marijuana hidden in various places throughout the home, documents said. They also uncovered 693 Xanax pills, .82 grams of methamphetamine, as well as three smoking bongs and six pipes at the residence, the complaint said.

A pipe was recovered from Alexander's vehicle, which was parked at the home, documents said.

In an interview, Alexander told officers that she had come to Montana at Flynn's request, documents said, and had been there for about a week. She said they arranged to have meth mailed from Las Vegas to a Havre business owned by Flynn's family, the complaint said.

Flynn pleaded not guilty on Jan. 18 to felony and misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. He also pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia and obstructing a peace officer.

Flynn has a hearing scheduled for Friday in District Court on two motions filed in his case: motions to suppress evidence seized in the search and to change the trial venue. He has also requested a juror pool survey.

His trial is scheduled for July 22.