Rambo to prison for trafficking meth | News

A methamphetamine dealer came close to sabotaging a plea agreement for the minimum prison sentence, but when her attorney pushed to make the deal even sweeter, the judge got salty.

Dina Rambo, 31, of Laurel was ordered to serve 10 years in the full-time custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to trafficking meth while in possession of a firearm. That's the mandatory minimum for a trafficking charge, which carries a possible sentence of 10 to 40 years — which could have been doubled with the firearm enhancement, meaning Rambo was facing a possible 80 years behind bars.

She was caught with 98 meth-laced pills and a .22-caliber handgun during a traffic stop by the Jones County Sheriff's Department for failing to use her turn signal on Houston Road in March 2022, District Attorney Brad Thompson said.

After Judge Dal Williamson went through the standard questions of a plea agreement and heard the evidence against her that the DA would take to trial, he asked if Rambo agreed that the facts of the case as presented were true.

“No, sir,” Rambo said.

With that, Williamson said the case would go to trial, but Rambo's attorney Melissa Gardner of Flowood quickly asked for a moment with her client. After that, Rambo said the facts presented by Thompson were true. Williamson asked why she didn't say that the first time.

Rambo said that was because she wasn't stopped for failing to use her blinker.

“When the officer pulled me over… he asked me when was the last time I popped a bean?” she said, referring to the street name for MDMA (ecstasy).

Gardner salvaged the plea by saying that her client was confused and her only disagreement was “miniscule,” not the main part of the case against her. Rambo told the judge it was true that she had the meth and the gun.

But when Gardner asked the judge for some consideration for a lesser charge — one that would allow her client to be eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of her sentence — she got an earful.

“This is a horrible problem in our community,” Williamson said, adding that he has 80 participants in drug court who “can hardly quit” their meth addiction. “It’ destroys families.”

When he learned that Rambo has three small children, Williamson said, “I can't, for the life of me, understand why, if you love your children, why you would be making the world a worse place for them to grow up in … increasing the chance that they will become addicts.

“In today's world, you have to pick a side…and you picked the wrong side, Ms. Rambo. I will not reduce the trafficking charge. You're lucky you're not getting 50 or 60 years, because that would have been the sentence if you had gone to trial and been found guilty.”

In addition to prison time, Rambo will have to spend two years on post-release supervision under MDOC, participate in the court's community service program and pay court fees and fines of $5,427.50.

In an unrelated case, 29-year-old Raven Holliman of Laurel was ordered to serve five years in the full-time custody of MDOC after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of meth.

She was sentenced as a habitual offender, meaning she is supposed to serve all of the time, with no chance for early release. That's because she has at least two previous felony convictions — for sale of meth and possession of meth.

Holliman was arrested by narcotics agents from the Laurel Police Department in January 2022 after they executed a search warrant at her residence on South 14th Avenue. They discovered 1.54 grams of crushed meth tabs and 125 milliliters of liquid meth, Thompson told the court.

Holliman faced up to 43 years in prison if convicted. She was represented by attorney Jeannene Pacific.

In addition to prison time, Holliman was ordered to spend three years on post-release supervision, participate in the court's community service program and pay court fees and fines of $1,427.50.