Mom charged with hitting alleged dealer

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HILLSBORO, Mo., March 13 (UPI) -- A few supporters turned out in Missouri for the arraignment of a woman charged with a baseball bat attack on a man she said was selling heroin to her son.

Sherrie Gavan admits hitting Joshua Loyd, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. She was told during a court hearing Monday in Jefferson County that she could be sentenced to a year behind bars if she is convicted.

"I don't know if I can say that what I did was right," she said. "But it was the only thing I could do in the moment."

A few people gathered outside the courthouse with signs supporting Gavan.

"I think it's ridiculous," Nicole Vaporean, 20, of House Springs told the newspaper. "The police should have done more."

Gavan said she had done everything she could think of to get her son, Clayton, off drugs. That included taking away his cell phone and giving police text messages she says identified dealers.

The day after she and her husband told Loyd's father they wanted his son to stay away she said Joshua showed up at the restaurant in St. Louis County where she is the manager. Clayton was at work with her.

That was when she drove to the Loyd home and hit Joshua when he showed up.

Steve Loyd acknowledges his son has used drugs with Clayton Gavan but denies he has sold them.