Woman sentenced for identity theft
A woman who stole the identity of an unsuspecting victim and was caught along with a former police narcotics officer at a meth lab has given an eight-year sentence for her crimes.
The defendant, Dorothy Jane Ball McDuffy, 22, entered a guilty plea before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley last week to charges of manufacture of meth and criminal impersonation.
She was directed to serve 230 days of an eight-year sentence, with the balance to be served on probation. Her co-defendants, former McMinnville Police Department narcotics investigator Robert Spangler and his employee, Chris Fuqua, will face trial at a later date.
McDuffy was arrested along with Spangler and Fuqua last summer after police raided a Martin Street residence owned by Spangler. A meth lab was reportedly found inside.
While denying knowledge of the meth lab, Spangler was hit with felony charges. Prior to his arrest, Spangler was a longtime member of the police department’s narcotics unit and had been named Officer of the Year at one time for his efforts in the war on drugs. He had resigned from the police force to work at Bridgestone.
During the raid, McDuffy claimed her name was Brandy Hand. It was later determined McDuffy was hiding from charges in Florida and had selected the name of a girl she knew in passing in hopes of not being discovered.
Along with fooling police initially, it was determined McDuffy had even fooled her boyfriend into thinking her name was Brandy Hand. Her deception came to an end when the real Brandy Hand came forward to tell police her identity had been stolen.