Copyright M Live Michigan
BAY CITY, MI — A Georgia woman has received more time behind bars for smuggling a firearm into the Bay County Jail inside her bra. Bay County Circuit Judge Jessie Scott Wood in early October sentenced Arquishia T. Brown, 32, to concurrent terms of 154 and 93 days in jail, with credit for four days already served. Wood further ordered Brown to pay $394 in fines and costs. Brown, who hails from Newnan, Georgia, in August pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Prosecutors dismissed six additional charges. About 6 a.m. on June 1, a Michigan State Police trooper noticed a white Jeep Grand Cherokee crashed in the median ditch dividing the east- and westbound lanes of US-10 west of Reinhardt Road in Monitor Township. Moments later, he saw a barefoot Brown walking east from the crash, attempting to use a cellphone, according to reports contained in court files. The trooper activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and pulled over, telling Brown he was there to help, his reports state. She kept walking away, though the trooper eventually caught up with her. Brown denied she was involved in the Jeep’s crash. The trooper, however, noticed grass and dirt stains on her clothing. She also stumbled and slurred her speech, leading the trooper to believe she was intoxicated, his reports state. At different points, Jones backed away from the trooper toward the freeway. The trooper had to grab her to prevent her from stumbling into the travel lane and getting struck by passing traffic, he wrote. Brown asked the trooper for a ride up the road, which he said he couldn’t give her. He repeatedly asked her name but received no response. “She started to cry and, in an attempt to likely get a ride away from the scene, she continued to try to call someone as she was clearly more worried about calling someone than identifying herself,” the trooper wrote. Brown tried walking away again and the trooper responded by trying to put her in handcuffs. She resisted for about three minutes before backup arrived and helped the trooper get control of her, reports state. Police identified Brown via her driver’s license. She refused a preliminary Breathalyzer test and remained mute to most questions. Police took her to an area hospital, where Brown had to be held down so staff could take samples of her blood for analysis. Police searched the Jeep and found an open can of Long Island Iced Tea with an alcohol content of 13%. They also found a loaded pistol and two loose rounds of ammunition in the center console, reports state. Bay County Jail staff searched Brown but didn’t immediately find any contraband. A body-scanner, though, detected a gun in her bra, “tucked away well enough that it even eluded jail staff until it was found by the scanner,” troopers wrote.
