Drugs in bra came back to haunt her
A woman turns herself in 26 years after trying to smuggle quaaludes into a prison.
By HELEN ANNE TRAVIS, Times Staff Writer
Published September 27, 2007
LAND O'LAKES - Gloria Drought went to visit her husband in prison and thought she'd take him a little present tucked inside her bra.
Big mistake.
Next thing she knew, a guard ordered her to strip.
The quaaludes fell out, and she spent a few hours in jail herself.
On Wednesday, 26 years later, she was back behind bars. It was either that or forget about drawing Social Security benefits.
Drought, now 65, drove 10 hours from Commerce, Ga., and turned herself in to Pasco County deputies Tuesday after she received a letter saying she would lose her Social Security benefits because there was a 22-year-old warrant for her arrest.
Back in 1981, Drought said she and her husband, Skip, had arranged during an open visit at the Zephyrhills Correctional Institute, where he was serving time, for her to bring quaaludes to the prison. They had been married only a few months.
Drought was caught, arrested and put on two years' probation.
But around Christmas 1984, she moved from Tampa to California, violating her probation. Her husband was out of prison by then. They worked odd jobs on the West Coast for 20 years.
Drought said she never thought about her Pasco probation.
"After a while I thought maybe it went away," she said.
In 2004 the couple moved to Georgia, and last week she received a letter in the mail.
Her Social Security benefits would be terminated because of the outstanding warrant.
She couldn't afford to lose her benefits. So she said goodbye to Skip on Monday night and did the only thing she could think of - turn herself in to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.
She cried a lot during the drive. She thought about money and bail and Skip.
But she doesn't blame her husband.
"It was so long ago," she said. "Why would I be mad at him?"
Late Wednesday, Drought said her blood pressure was too high and she did not have access to her medicine. She couldn't reach her husband on his cell phone and was unable to make the $10,000 bail.
"I don't have any money," she said.
Helen Anne Travis can be reached at 352 521-6518 or htravis@sptimes.com