Mar 4, 2016 2 min read

A 24-year-old Washington woman was sentenced Thursday to more than eight months on house arrest after pleading guilty to four drug charges in September.

Police served a search warrant in April 2013 at a Carmichaels residence and found heroin in the purse of Angela Marie Cox.

Police were looking for her then-boyfriend, Tyler Hoyle, 23, of Waynesburg, who was wanted for trafficking heroin.

More than a year later, Cox pleaded guilty to delivery of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver, possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Cox told the judge she had been delivering heroin to support her addiction.

“It was horrible,” she said. “It’s the worst thing that can happen to anybody because once it has you, it has you and you can’t stop.”

Cox said that at the height of her addiction, she was ingesting 40 stamp bags of heroin a day.

“I got involved with a guy who was into drugs,” Cox said during the sentencing. “When I went to jail, I saw it as an opportunity to get clean and stay clean. I’ve stayed away from it ever since.”

In July, Cox plans on celebrating two years of sobriety. Her family was in court Thursday to support her and her mother and husband testified on her behalf.

“Once she got out of jail, she really showed us she could stay clean,” her husband, Randy Davis, said.

President Judge Farley Toothman sentenced Cox to more than eight months on house arrest with a GPS and alcohol-monitoring bracelet, with more than three years of supervision to follow.

She also will continue recovery counseling and therapy sessions once a month, pay court costs and a $750 fine, and complete 100 hours of community service.

Cox, who had a baby in September, will have working privileges and be able to go to health, mental health and counseling appointments.

“I wish I would have been smarter about the choices that I made,” Cox said. “I have a lot of support and motivation to stay clean. I have my family and I don’t want to lose that.”