A Silver Spring woman faces at least 10 years in prison after she was found with more than a pound of marijuana hidden in her car in the parking lot of a Maryland state prison, authorities said.
The discovery of the package led to a host of more problems for 25-year-old Amorita Quintanilla, who has done time herself in prison. She was also charged this week with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and with being a felon in possession of ammunition.
According to charging documents filed in federal court in Greenbelt on Tuesday, Quintanilla was sitting in her vehicle at the Maryland Correction Facility in Jessup on Oct. 13, waiting for visiting hours to begin to see her inmate husband.
While she sat in her vehicle, a department of corrections K-9 unit began randomly scanning cars in the parking lot looking for the presence of drugs, documents said.
The dog indicated that there were drugs in Quintanilla's vehicle, and police told her to step out of the car while they searched it.
The search revealed a hidden compartment behind the back seat and the brick of marijuana, prosecutors said.
Quintanilla then retrieved from a "body cavity" a plastic bag containing a small amount of marijuana, documents said.
Department of Corrections and Montgomery County Police later sought to obtain a warrant to search Quintanilla's home, in the 1700 block of Wilcox Lane. The townhouse sits next door to John F. Kennedy High School, placing it in a drug-free school zone, prosecutors said.
Before entering the residence, police said they saw a man walk out of Quintanilla's house and appear to sell drugs to a man in a vehicle.
The man went back inside the home, then exited it and walked to a wooded area next to the high school.
Police followed the man took him into custody. Officers said they recovered from him about six ounces of crack cocaine in a tan purse and packaged in individual baggies, a loaded Cobra .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, more than a pound of marijuana and a digital scale.
After the man was taken into custody, detectives received a signed search warrant for Quintanilla's home. She met the officers at the door, and police recovered $3,000 on her person.
In the master bedroom, police said, officer found two boxes of ammunition and a bulletproof vest.
Quintanilla is a convicted felon and not allowed to possess ammunition, prosecutors said.
Previous convictions for Quintanilla include a 2000 burglary for which she was sentenced to three years behind bars.
