MOTHER, DAUGHTER FACE METH CHARGES

Former Lincoln Police Officer Could Face Up To 30 Years In Prison

LINCOLN - Former Lincoln Police Cpl. Diana Short was arraigned Tuesday in
Logan County court on felony drug charges with yet another family member -
her 24-year-old daughter.

The 46-year-old Short, who was the first female Lincoln police office and
served 10 years before her December arrest on drug charges, listened as
Judge David Coogan arraigned Short and her daughter, Brianna D. Strohl, on
felony charges alleging a foiled plot to manufacture methamphetamine.

In addition to more than a half-dozen drug-related felony charges stemming
from two Logan County grand jury indictments within the past eight months,
Short now faces:

- - Two counts - one a Class X felony, the other a Class 1 felony - of
unlawful criminal drug conspiracy.

- - Unlawful possession of methamphetamine manufacturing chemicals, a Class 1
felony.

- - Solicitation, a Class 2 felony.

Strohl, of the 100 block of Grand Avenue, faces identical charges with the
exception of the solicitation charge.

Authorities say the conspiracy included plans for Strohl, with the help of
several friends, to buy as many as 2,000 pseudoephedrine tablets and drop
them off at a residence where a meth "cook" would pick up the pills and
manufacture the highly addictive stimulant.

Unbeknownst to Short and Strohl - who communicated via a monitored phone
line at the Logan County Safety Complex - the "cook" was made available to
Short by a confidential informant after Logan County State's Attorney Tim
Huyett learned of the scheme.

Illinois State troopers recovered more than 1,000 tablets containing
pseudophedrine from a residence in the 200 block of Williamette Avenue
after Strohl told Short she had accomplished her mission.

If convicted of the Class X conspiracy charges, Short and Strohl each face
between six and 30 years in prison without possibility of probation. If
Short is convicted of conspiracy, her incarceration is compounded, because
any prison term stemming from the meth charges must be served consecutive
to any convictions from the previous indictments.

Short, and her husband, John Short, each face Class X indictments for
controlled substance trafficking and unlawful manufacture of a controlled
substance. Those charges - the most severe of which provides a minimum of
12 and up to 60 years in prison - allege they imported psilocybin spores to
manufacture hallucinogenic mushrooms.

If convicted of trafficking and conspiracy, Diana Short faces a maximum 90
years in prison, with a minimum sentence of 18 years.

The Shorts are to appear in court today for a pretrial hearing regarding
the earlier indictments.

Last December, state police raided the Shorts' residence in Lincoln and
discovered 25 mature marijuana plants, three illegal handguns and the
hallucinogenic mushrooms spores.

John Short is being held on $7,500 bond. Diana Short's bond has jumped from
$7,500 to $25,000.

Strohl, who joined the Shorts at the safety complex Monday after her arrest
in Springfield, is being held on $10,000 bond.