AUGUSTA — A Canaan woman arrested Dec. 31 on charges of unlawful possession of drugs after police reported finding them in the crawl space of a Pittston home was in court Tuesday pleading guilty.

Jennifer Beckwith-Pierce, 34, was sentenced to 180 days in jail, fully suspended, and one year of probation, with conditions that include substance abuse evaluation and treatment if necessary.

Her attorney, Dennis Jones, told Justice William Stokes that Beckwith-Pierce was already in counseling and treatment now.

Beckwich-Pierce also was ordered to pay a $400 fine.

She told police the drugs were hers and that she was working as a housekeeper at the home.

An affidavit by Maine State Trooper Seth Allen, filed at the Capital Judicial Center, says Allen was doing a bail check on a couple who lived in the apartment on Old Town Farm Road when he saw a crawl space under the stairs with a large amount of clothes inside.

“As soon as I opened the crawl space, I found a tea light tin with cotton and what I knew to be heroin inside it,” Allen wrote.

Allen said Beckwith-Pierce had “fresh track marks on her neck” and said she had used heroin the previous day.

He said he found a bag containing “several syringes, a plastic bag containing cotton soaked in heroin and four Suboxone strips, which were not her prescription.”

On Tuesday, one of the two unlawful drug possession charges was dismissed in exchange for the plea.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams