A woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after she smuggled a loaded gun into a county jail by hiding it in a 'body cavity', court records show.
Amy Wilhite, 39, was charged with 'delivery or concealment' of a weapon, when a .22 calibre revolver was found following a search.
The firearm was found fully loaded with five rounds after she had entered the prison 17 days previously.
A plea deal saw Wilhite sentenced to a decade in custody at the Missouri Department of Corrections. She is being held currently at the Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center.
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She had previously been sent to prison but was arrested most recently on 14 February on gun and narcotics charges.
When she was booked into the Boone County jail in Columbia, she was initially searched, with Columbia Police Department officers failing to locate the revolver that she had stashed.
A further 'pat search' and strip search also failed to locate the item, with Wilhite lasting for 17 days before officers found the gun. It was wrapped in plastic with her possessions.
A probable cause statement found that investigators said that she had 'removed the firearm from her body and concealed it within her personal belongings'.
When she was being questioned at the jail, she went on to admit she had the firearm, but claimed it wasn't hers, saying she was 'only holding it for another female detainee'.
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But other inmates in the same housing unit as Wilhite said that 'Amy was in possession of the firearm'.
On top of the gun smuggling charge, she also pleaded guilty to the drug and weapons charges that she was originally detained for.
The judge ordered her to serve five years for each conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently with the 10-year prison term.
It's not the first time Wilhite has been incarcerated, she has been in and out of prison in the state of Missouri since 2007, the Daily Mail reports.
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Her offences include attempted burglary, driving under the influence and possesion of marijuana. She has also been convicted of theft and burglary.
She isn't the first to smuggle weapons into prison in the US.
In 2017, a female inmate managed to sneak a pistol in a jail holding cell in California. The gun was later found in the Santa Clara County Jail, wrapped in toilet paper on a bathroom floor.
Featured Image Credit: Missouri Dept of CorrectionsTopics: US News