An Augusta woman who was on the lam for years received a two-year prison sentence Wednesday for violating her probation.

Kelly E. Barton, 31, was back in U.S. District Court, where she was sentenced in 2002 for hotel fires caused by methamphetamine production.

Ms. Barton served time in federal prison and began serving three years' probation June 4, 2004.

Less than a month later, she was found with a convicted felon who investigators believed was about to commit armed robbery.

Ms. Barton was allowed to leave that night, but John Earl Miller, a convicted bank robber released from prison in May 2004, was arrested after officers found a handgun, bandanna, ski mask and gloves in his vehicle. Officers suspected he had committed four armed robberies, but charges were dropped when evidence was ruled inadmissible.

Ms. Barton was arrested Sept. 2, 2004, in Wadley, Ga., in the company of another convicted felon, Hercules Nichols, and 88.3 grams of crack cocaine, according to court documents.

Once free on bond, Ms. Barton and Mr. Nichols fled the area.

She was arrested May 11 in Chicago, where she was living with Mr. Nichols, according to court documents.

Federal probationers are not allowed to associate with other convicted felons. That was one reason District Court Senior Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. revoked her probation sentence Wednesday, said U.S. Attorney Edmund A. Booth Jr. Charges in the Wadley case are still pending.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.