Michelle Kersey pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking of the ecstasy pills discovered in her purse and the shoebox.

Michelle Kersey, 23, uttered a barely audible "guilty" during a brief appearance before Justice Renee Pomerance. She'll be sentenced Sept. 19.Her boyfriend at the time of their Aug. 9, 2006, arrests, Jeremiah Maguire, 24, had previously pleaded guilty in provincial court to drug and firearm charges and was handed a 21/2-year federal penitentiary term on a drug trafficking charge and one-year consecutive term for illegal possession of a firearm.Prosecutor Richard Pollock said Maguire was the subject of a Windsor drug squad investigation at the time and police had information he was dealing narcotics and that he kept a gun in his 1997 Acura. On the afternoon of Aug. 9, Kersey and Maguire were observed leaving their shared downtown apartment in the 500 block of Pitt Street and walking to the parked Acura. Pollock said Kersey took a traffic ticket off the windshield, ripped it up and threw it in the air before the two embraced and she returned to the apartment.Armed with search warrants and backed by a tactical unit, the drug squad swooped in, discovering a 1/4-kilogram package of cocaine under the Acura's driver seat as well as a .38-calibre semi-automatic handgun containing five rounds.Inside the apartment, police recovered 800 ecstasy tablets in Kersey's purse and more than 9,000 ecstasy pills in a shoebag on the bedroom floor. Also seized were a money counter, digital scale, cocaine press, debt lists and plastic baggies used for drug deals, said Pollock, who estimated the total street value of the ecstasy seizures at between $94,000 and $188,000. Also found in the apartment were 10 rounds of ammunition that didn't match the seized firearm.Kersey pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking of the ecstasy pills discovered in her purse and the shoebox.Defence lawyer Maria Carroccia said Kersey has no criminal record and that she should be considered for a conditional sentence and the electronic monitoring program.
Pollock said the Crown is seeking the maximum reformatory sentence of two years less a day.The judge ordered a pre-sentence report before allowing Kersey to continue on bail pending her sentencing.