A Jacksonville woman indicted by the federal government on drug charges last Fall pleaded guilty in court yesterday.
59 year old Tonja L. Day of the 800 block of Routt Street was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 7, 2022 for possession with intent to deliver 50 grams or more of methamphetamine for incidents that occurred on or about July 25, 2022. Day was arrested on October 4, 2022 after a Morgan County Circuit Court hearing that unsealed the indictment.
Day’s charges in Morgan County Court of possession of methamphetamine less than 5 grams from a February 7, 2022 arrest along with the July 25th arrest by Jacksonville Police were dropped and deferred to the Central District Federal Court of Illinois. A separate arrest by Greenfield Police on June 8, 2022 in Greene County Court was all dropped and deferred to the higher court.
The court had gone through several motions as well as a reassignment of the case to new federal judge Colleen Lawless back in March. After a final pretrial conference on March 20th, Day’s counsel entered a change in plea hearing request.
On Tuesday, Day officially pleaded guilty to the lone charge in the indictment. Day is due to be sentenced on August 24th.
The Class A felony is punishable by ten years to life in prison to be followed by five years of mandatory supervised release and up to $10 million in fines.
Day remains incarcerated at the Decatur women’s facility on a hold until her sentencing date.