An Laramie man pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance- heroin- as a third or subsequent offense as part of a plea deal in Albany County District Court yesterday.

In exchange for the guilty plea, the state will dismiss the second charge against 33-year-old Stephen Yuresko -possession of methamphetamine as a third or subsequent offense-and recommend probation at sentencing.

According to court documents, Yuresko was arrested on August 28, after an Albany County Sheriff’s deputy pulled Yuresko over for a traffic violation. While standing outside the vehicle during the stop, the deputy noticed a glass pipe on the passenger seat of the car, which through training he knew to be methamphetamine pipe.

The deputy also noticed that the passenger of the car, Veronica Ledford, appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance. Yuresko told the deputy that he and Ledford had smoked methamphetamine about five hours earlier and that Ledford had a drug problem. Ledford also said that she had smoked meth, court documents state.

The deputy checked their criminal history and showed that Yurekso had a warrant out for probation violation out of Colorado and Ledford had a non-extraditable warrant out for failing to appear. Both of their warrants were for drug possession, according to the affidavit. Yuresko also had two prior convictions from 2016 for drug possession out of Colorado, court documents state.

Along with the pipe, a search of the car also turned up several aluminum foil wrappers with black residue on them, a breath mint container containing two powder substances that the deputy recognized as suspect methamphetamine and suspect heroin, a digital scale with brown and white residue in the center of the console and a handbag with a hypodermic needle and a rubber tie off inside, which the deputy knew to be indicative of intravenous drug use.

During his arraignment, Yuresko told Albany County District Court Judge Tori Kricken that all of the drugs in the vehicle belonged to him and not Ledford.

“I take responsibility for everything found in the search of the car,” Yuresko said. “And I throw myself at the court’s mercy.”

Defense attorney Randy Hiller asked for bond modification so that Yuresko could address the warrants out of Colorado, but prosecutor Ava Bell said the state objected because of Yuresko’s criminal history, which included a failure to appear and probation revocations. Judge Kricken agreed with Bell and denied bond modification.

Yuresko remains incarcerated on $10,000 bond. He will be sentenced following a presentence investigation.

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