A Lawrence County jury has sent a strong message that drug trafficking will not be tolerated by recommending a repeat offender should spend at least 20 years in jail.

Rachel Blackburn was found guilty of two counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and of being a persistent felony offender after a one-day trial held Monday, November 3.

Final determination on how long Blackburn will serve is up to Lawrence County Circuit Court Judge John David Preston when Blackburn appears for final sentencing on December 12.

The 46-year-old Lawrence County resident sold Morphine pills to an informant working for Operation UNITE on two occasions in March 2007. At the time of the sales she was on probation for a second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance conviction on March 21, 2006.

Blackburn was part of a six-month undercover investigation into the sale of Morphine, OxyContin and Hydrocodone pills in and around Lawrence County that ultimately led to the indictment of 24 people. On August 30, 2007, UNITE detectives along with state and local law enforcement officials conducted a roundup of those suspects.

Downstairs from where the prisoners were being processed a press conference featuring the director of Kentucky¹s Office of Drug Control Policy, the state Inspector General and Fifth District Congressman Harold ³Hal² Rogers was held to draw attention to the ³devastation of drugs² in the region and value of partnerships to combat the problems.

At the time drugs were purchased, Blackburn was living at the Southland Plaza trailer court in Louisa. At least two other individuals sold drugs from that residence during the investigation and were wanted as part of the roundup.

Blackburn was not present when officers came calling just after daybreak.

Among those who were present, however, was 24-year-old Joshua Sleasman, Blackburn¹s son, who unsuccessfully attempted to flee apprehension by escaping through a trap door. Four people at the trailer ­ Amanda L. Bowen and Karen D. Webb, both of Louisa, and Barbara K. Jude and Jamie C. Jude, both of Inez ­ were charged with trying to hinder Sleasman¹s arrest.

Sleasman was charged with two counts of trafficking in a simulated controlled substance, two counts first-degree wanton endangerment, and one count felony theft by unlawful taking. He received a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to the charges on March 20, 2008, and is currently out on four years probation.

After the roundup, Blackburn fled across the Big Sandy River to neighboring Fort Gay, West Virginia, where she remained a fugitive until her arrest on May 21, 2008.

Blackburn declined to accept a plea agreement offered by Assistant Commonwealth¹s Attorney Melissa Fannin and chose to face her peers in a jury trial.

After viewing the evidence, it took jurors only a few minutes to return with a guilty verdict and recommend the maximum 10 years on each count with the sentences to run consecutively.

The jury then deliberated on whether Blackburn was a persistent felony offender. They found her guilty and recommended the maximum of 20 years on each. It will be up to Judge Preston to decide whether she will serve these sentences at the same time or consecutively.

Blackburn was remanded into custody and taken to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center until her sentencing.

A third suspect from the home wanted in connection with drug trafficking was 26-year-old Wilben Maynard. He also managed to avoid arrest on charges of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and trafficking in a simulated controlled substance until September 22, 2008. Maynard is scheduled back in court for a pre-trial conference on November 14.

All but one person indicted as part of the 2007 drug investigation have been arrested.