SCOTT COUNTY, Ind. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana community is rallying around a woman who's behind bars after they say she turned her life around.
An online petition is circulating to overturn Erica Riley's sentence and release her from prison.
Riley has been in the system since 2011. Scottsburg police said she was caught selling drugs twice in 2018, and she was using her home for a drug operation. Police found 28 grams of meth and 3,000 needles.
Riley bonded out of jail last year, got treatment on her own, met her fiance and gave birth to their son. Riley also made it her mission to help others recover in Scott County.
"I made it a year, and there's not a doubt in my mind that this is a lasting change," Riley said.
Last week, a judge sentenced Riley to eight years in prison, two on home detention and six years probation. However, between Indiana law and the time she served before, Scott County Prosecutor Chris Owens said she could likely serve four years. Five felonies were also dismissed.
"I'm able to accept that I'm here, but this isn't what changed me," Riley said. "It never has before. They sent me to prison two other times prior to this."
"(She) created a whole new life, and she wasn't going back," Meagan Cothron said. "And she proved it for a whole year, not because time was over her head. That's obvious, because they gave it to her anyway. This is a social justice against everyone that's overcome the past of their addiction."
Owens said part of Riley's plea deal included her waiving the right to appeal.
"We took into account all the things that she had done and in her past," he said. "She did nothing that she was asked to do by the court system, ever. I don't know if jail is the answer, but jail is definitely part of the answer. Ms. Riley testified at her own sentencing hearing that she wouldn't have done what she did except for the threat of significant amount of jail time she had over her head."
On Monday, Nov. 2, from 1:30-2:30 p.m., family and friends are holding a prayer vigil for her at the Scott County Courthouse lawn.
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