A Lawrence woman will likely serve the remainder of her federal prison sentence in a halfway house after she admitted to participating in a crack cocaine trafficking operation.

Katheryn Alexander, 31, had pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count of conspiring to maintain a residence for manufacturing crack cocaine, one count of unlawfully possessing a firearm while using illegal drugs and one count of aggravated identity theft.

U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia sentenced her on Monday to serve a four-year prison term. But because she gets credit for nearly three years already served while in custody, the judge will recommend to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons that she be sent to a halfway house for the rest of her term. She will also be supervised for two years after she is released.

Alexander was the 10th defendant to be sentenced in connection with a crack cocaine trafficking ring that operated in Lawrence from mid-2004 to 2006. Two years ago she agreed to testify in any hearings related to the case.

According to Alexander’s plea agreement, she admitted to delivering crack cocaine to others at least 15 times, keeping crack cocaine in her residence in the 1600 block of West Fourth Street, and possessing a pistol while using drugs in May 2006.

Alexander also admitted that for a week in May 2006, she used credit cards and checks on a false identity to buy $3,250 worth of goods from various stores in Lawrence and Topeka. Murguia ordered her to pay restitution to those businesses.

Murguia has ordered a hearing in November to determine whether one defendant, Don Marcus Gibler of Lawrence, received ineffective counsel before he pleaded guilty, in 2007, to one count of conspiracy in connection with the crack cocaine trafficking ring. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison.