Man who sold meth near school gets prison time

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A Texarkana man who sold methamphetamine in Jefferson Park across the street from Arkansas High School was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison Monday as part of a plea bargain.

Jerry Dill, 52, appeared with Texarkana attorney Craig Henry for sentencing Monday before U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey in the Texarkana Dvision of the Western District of Arkansas. Dill was remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals at the end of the hearing.

Henry submitted a sentencing memorandum before Monday’s hearing asking the court for leniency. According to the memorandum, Dill’s mother died when he was young and his father abandoned him when he was a teen. Dill suffers from a variety of physical maladies and depression, which according to the memorandum, he has self-medicated by using illicit drugs.

Dill has been free but on home detention under the supervision of federal probation officials since his arrest in May 2016. Initially Dill was charged in a five-count indictment of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and with selling the drug to undercover officers on four different dates in September 2015. Dill pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to count five of the indictment which charged him with selling 28 grams of meth stashed in a Crystal Light container to an undercover for $900 in Jefferson Park across from Arkansas High School, on Sept. 25, 2015, exactly two years ago.

As part of his plea agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brice White asked the court to dismiss the conspiracy charge and the three remaining charges relating to specific drug transactions. According to court records, Hickey is recommending that Dill participate in intensive drug treatment while in federal prison and that he be considered for a year of residency at a half-way house. Dill will be supervised by federal probation officials for three years upon his release. If he violates the law or other conditions of his supervised release, he could be ordered to spend more time behind bars.

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