In addition to detailing how he sold Lorcet pills to a cooperating witness, a proposed plea agreement in the case against Clarence King, Jr. details payments he made to have the charges dismissed.
King pleaded guilty Friday to one count of distribution of Hydrocodone in U.S. District Court in London.
In return for his guilty plea, King faces up to five years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine and at least two years of supervised released.
"He (confidential informant) came by and said he was hurting and asked if I had anything," King said when U.S. District Court Judge Gregory VanTatenhove asked him to explain in his own words what he had done.
King went on to say that he gave the informant a Lorcet tablet from his pocket.
According to the proposed plea agreement, on Feb. 8, 2008, a cooperating witness working in conjunction with the Williamsburg Police Department purchased an 80-miligram pill from King at his junkyard.
On Feb. 14, 2008, Williamsburg police executed a search warrant, during which they found at least 16 80-miligram oxycontin pills.
(King) attempted to walk away from law enforcement as they approached,” officials stated in the plea agreement. “One of the officers observed (King) throw something down as he left. Law enforcement recovered the discarded item and found that it contained five pieces of oxycontin 80 mg pills.”
King will be formally sentenced at 3:30 p.m. on June 30
King was one of three Whitley County men arrested by federal authorities in October in connection with a drug trafficking ring that was headed by former Williamsburg Police Officer Brad Nighbert.
Gregory Keith Smith, 55, pleaded guilty on Jan. 20 in U.S. District Court in London to one count of distribution of pills containing Oxycodone.
Smith also pleaded guilty to a federal forfeiture charge that will allow federal authorities to seize a 2006 Ford pickup truck that Smith allegedly used during the commission of his crimes.
He worked as a transport officer with the sheriff’s department until last August when he resigned.
Williamsburg tow truck driver Jerry Bunch, 58, is scheduled to be rearraigned on March 30.
Bunch is facing 10 counts of distributing and conspiring to distribute cocaine, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone.
King and Bunch’s involvement in Whitley County drug trafficking has further come to light with release of affidavits in U.S. District Court this month by Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives Special Agent Todd Tremaine in regards to former Sheriff Lawrence Hodge.
Around 2004 or 2005, King allegedly left pills for former Sheriff Lawrence Hodge on three or four occasions with admitted bootlegger Larry Logan, according to a 95-page affidavit that Tremaine filed last year.
King told federal authorities that he paid Hodge $1,000 to $1,500 per month to avoid being investigated by deputies, according an affidavit.
"King stated that in order to sell pills in Whitley County without fear or being arrested, you had to pay Sheriff Hodge," according to the affidavit.
King told authorities that after an initial $1,000 donation to Hodge, he began meeting Hodge every three to four weeks at a church parking lot to pay him.
Then Hodge started asking for a couple of pain pills in addition to the money, King told authorities, according to the affidavit.
Williamsburg attorney Ron Reynolds, who pleaded guilty recently to being part of a conspiracy with Hodge to extort money from his clients, told federal authorities that Hodge told him that he would get Bunch to sell pills Hodge allegedly stole from one client and they would split the money. Reynolds said he told Hodge to instead log the pills into evidence, which Hodge didn’t do.
Bunch was also named in a March 9 federal court affidavit in connection with another drug trafficking case.
On Feb. 24, a confidential informant told police that he over heard Nikita Evans and Charles Fritts talking about Jerry Bunch calling trying to purchase pills from them, according to the affidavit.
Bunch was one of the witnesses, who testified to a Special Called Whitley County Grand Jury, which indicted Hodge on 21 felony charges.
So far Hodge hasn’t been charged in federal court.
