Drug offender with 35-plus year history sent for 120-day treatment in DOC

Mary F. Polen pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and keeping or maintaining a public nuisance pursuant to a plea before Circuit Judge Craig Carter Jan. 17. The plea was made as part of a plea agreement with the state. 

She was sentenced to prison under 559.115, a 120-day institutional drug treatment program within the Missouri Department of Corrections. If she completes the program, she will be released on probation with the condition that she attend drug court locally. The back up sentences are 7 and 4 years in prison, which may be executed by a judge if she violates her probation enough times. 

According to the felony grand jury indictment in the case, Polen possessed methamphetamine July 28, 2023. Details of the arrest were not available in the indictment document. 

The document charges Polen as a prior and persistent drug offender based on her criminal conviction history: 

• On or about April 19, 1987, Polen was convicted of the felony of transporting, selling narcotics or a controlled substance in the Superior Court of Orange County, California. The sale reportedly occured on Feb. 9, 1987;

• On our about Nov. 16, 1999, Polen was convicted to the felony of manufacturing a controlled substance in Superior Court of Riverside County, California. The drugs were reportedly manufactured on March 17, 1999;

• On or about Dec. 3, 2014, Polen pleaded guilty to the felony of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia (methamphetamine) in Ozark County. The offense occurred Oct. 11, 2013.