Woman gets probation for stealing mother's medication

A woman received three years probation Wednesday in state District Court in Havre for stealing her mother’s medication while visiting her for the weekend.

Janessa J. Cline, born in 1981, received a three year deferred imposition of sentence for criminal possession of dangerous drugs, a felony.

The sentence is under a plea deal that dropped a misdemeanor theft charge.

If Cline abides by the conditions of her sentence, she can have the offense wiped from her record. On Jan. 28, a woman called deputies to report that her hydrocodone prescription had been stolen from her purse while she was working at the Lone Tree Casino. The woman told the deputy that she had 89 pills in the bottle, and she suspected one of her daughters had stolen it.

On Jan. 31, the deputy viewed the surveillance video from that day at the Lone Tree Casino.

In the video, Cline can be seen unzipping the pocket of the purse where the pill bottle was, removing the bottle then quickly concealing it under the bar, court documents say.

The woman who made the theft report said Cline was her daughter who was visiting for the weekend from Great Falls.