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Grandmother pleads guilty to drug dealing

Candace Kelly, the gray-haired grandmother busted with 54 pounds of marijuana and nearly $400,000 drug money in her Buffalo Township home, today pleaded guilty to all the half-dozen charges she faced.

Deputy Attorney General Tomm Anthony Mutschler, who is prosecuting the case, said when Kelly is sentenced Nov. 20, he will seek prison time for the 65-year-old defendant.

Kelly’s defense attorney Jeffrey Wasak of Pittsburgh said he hopes to present circumstances about Kelly and her case that will reduce the sentence as much as possible.

But Butler County Judge William Shaffer, who will get the final say, already warned Kelly in the courtroom that “my sentencing discretion is pretty broad.”

Kelly’s sentence could be anything from house arrest to a virtual life sentence.

Court records allege Kelly had been selling as much as 100 pounds of marijuana a year from her Kepple Road since 2009. She’s accused of receiving three shipments of 30 to 40 pounds of marijuana per year, which she allegedly sold for $3,400 per pound.

In addition to the marijuana and money, police allegedly seized from Kelly’s home nearly two pounds of psychedelic mushrooms and hashish.

Kelly pleaded guilty to intent to deliver marijuana, possession with intent to deliver psilocybin mushrooms, possession of marijuana, possession of psilocybin mushrooms, criminal conspiracy and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Wasak hopes to stress to the judge his client’s sincere remorse and her “that a woman of her age is no threat to the community ... Any extended period of incarceration would be unwarranted and unproductive.”

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