Woman accused of planting drugs in Dayton cruiser faces more charges

DAYTON — A woman who planted drugs in a Dayton police cruiser following her arrest in May is facing another drug charge stemming from that night.

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A second arrest warrant was issued for Meiah Tucker, 26, after she was indicted Tuesday for possession of heroin by a Montgomery County grand jury.

She is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 12.

Tucker, of Dayton, was sentenced to five years of probation on Oct. 8 after she was convicted of possession of cocaine and failure to comply with police. However, the next week, on Oct. 17, she was declared an absconder and a warrant was issued for her arrest. This came the day after her probation officer told the court that “there whereabouts of the defendant have been unknown since Oct. 8.”

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Tucker was convicted after she placed drugs inside a Dayton police cruiser on the way to the Montgomery County Jail following her May 22 arrest.

Police said she was driving a white Chevrolet Malibu with Michigan plates when she changed lanes without using a turn signal. She initially did not stop when officers tried to pull her over. She finally did stop, but put the vehicle in reverse. It slowly backed towards officers, who removed Tucker and two passengers from the car and put the gear into park inches before it backed into the cruiser, according to a Dayton police report.

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Officers spotted crack cocaine after taking her out of the cruiser, but Tucker initially denied it was hers. Back-seat footage from the cruiser showed her pull the drugs out from her pants, a police report stated.

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