Wilcox pleads guilty, sentenced to 5 years, probation also revoked

Michelle Wilcox pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance when she appeared before Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter on Wednesday, March 19. Possession of a controlled substance is a D class felony.

Wilcox was sentenced to 5 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. According to court records, a second charge of felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of willfully failing or refusing to obey or resisting or opposing a law enforcement officer or firefighter in the property discharge of their duties were dismissed. Probation was also revoked for a previous felony conviction of possession of a controlled substance. Both sentences will run concurrent, and she will receive credit for time served in the Ozark County Jail. 

The possession charge stems from a traffic stop on Oct. 20, 2021. According to the probable cause statement in the case prepared by Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper N. Vines, the officer was sitting in his patrol vehicle on Kraig Drive in Theodosia around 11 p.m. Oct. 20, 2021, when he saw an orange 2012 Dodge Avenger traveling westbound on Highway 160. The car was displaying truck license plates instead of plates for a passengers car, the statement says. The officer initiated a traffic stop. 

The Dodge car, driven by Wilcox, pulled into a private parking lot near Highway 160 and John Wesley Drive. Wilcox handed the officer her proof of insurance and told Vines that her driver’s license was expired. The officer asked her to sit in his patrol vehicle while he entered her information into a computer program. 

“While conducting the task, Wilcox appeared nervous by her performing self-grooming gestures, and she had varying degrees of voice inflection while speaking,” Vines wrote in the report. “Wilcox re-arranged her hair, scratched her nose multiple times and scratched her right knee.”

The computer program indicated that Wilcox’s driver’s license had expired eight years before on July 22, 2013, and the registration/license plate belonged to a 2006 Chevrolet pickup.

“I asked Wilcox the last time she smoked marijuana, and she replied, ‘Um, today.’ I asked Wilcox how much marijuana was located in the Dodge and she replied, ‘Uh, just, just a little bit in a pipe.’ I asked Wilcox where the marijuana was located, and she stated it was located in her purse. 

Vines exited the patrol vehicle and began searching Wilcox’s vehicle. 

“While searching the Dodge, I located Wilcox’s purse in the front passenger seat. Inside the purse, I located less than 10 grams of marijuana in two plastic baggies and a glass smoking device containing burnt marijuana residue. I located a small blue and white cloth fabric pouch on top of a back pack in the rear driver’s side floorboard. Located inside the pouch was a glass smoking device containing a grey residue that resembled smoked methamphetamine, a glass tube with white crystal substance residue on the inside and a small plastic baggie containing a white crystal substance that resembled methamphetamine…”

Vines returned to the patrol vehicle and asked Wilcox to step out of the vehicle. He placed her in handcuffs and told her that she was under arrest. At 11:31 p.m. that night, she was transported to the Ozark County Jail. 

The probation violation stems from Wilcox’s contact with convicted felon, Orval Merriman. 

Wilcox was arrested in October 2024 at Merriman’s Theodosia residence while Ozark County deputies were serving a warrant for Merriman’s arrest. According to a probable cause statement filed by Deputy Josh Sherman, Merriman attempted to flee on foot from Sherman and Deputy Jeffrey Lane. Wilcox allegedly was in a vehicle and attempted to leave the property. Wilcox and Merriman were both arrested at the time. One of the conditions of Wilox’s previous probation was that she was to have no contact with a convicted felon.

On Nov. 4, 2024, Merriman and Wilcox were married while both were incarcerated in the Ozark County Jail. However, terms of Wilcox’s probation prohibited her from having contact with Merriman.