Pot bust suspect given house arrest

April 16, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - A Wasilla woman arrested by the Mat-Su Narcotics Unit March 22 at an alleged marijuana grow operation she kept with her boyfriend was granted house arrest after a bail hearing Thursday in Palmer Superior Court.

Lucia C. Mobley, 33, is charged with seven counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance for the bust, where investigators say they found 53 pot plants, processed marijuana, methamphetamine, methadone, morphine and drug paraphernalia.

At the time, Mobley's bail was set at $10,000 cash.

While Mobley was in jail, a Palmer grand jury indicted her on 11 counts of second-degree forgery for kiting stolen checks, and third-degree theft.

Another grand jury indicted her on another fourth-degree MICS charge for allegedly possessing cocaine in September.

At Thursday's bail hearing, Mobley's defense attorney Marcy McDannel asked for a bail reduction and release on an electronic ankle monitor. Mobley didn't need a third-party custodian if she was under house arrest at her mother's home, McDannel argued.

Mobley's behavior was drug-fueled, and Mobley was the primary victim, she said.

Curt Martin, assistant district attorney, told Judge Eric Smith that he wanted bail to remain at $10,000 cash for the dope grow.

Martin presented one of Mobley's victims, Teresa Hunter.

Hunter said she only knew Mobley and Mobley's boyfriend, Travis Clark, through her son, who was Clark's friend.

&#8220She told me the reason she was growing was to make money to get an attorney to fight for custody of her children,” Hunter said. &#8220When she was left alone at my house, she had to literally dig through stuff to get those checks.”

Hunter said it took the U.S. Marshals to find and arrest Mobley.

Judge Smith reduced Mobley's bail to $5,000 cash or bond, granted an order for an ankle monitor with random drug checks for drug use, and ordered her to remain under house arrest at her mother's house.

Mobley's other open criminal cases include Anchorage charges of driving while intoxicated, operating a vehicle without insurance and failure to appear, lodged in July 2005; a fourth-degree MICS and third-degree theft in Palmer from October; and a first-degree criminal trespass in Palmer from September.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.