
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 6, 1990                   TAG: 9003062000
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

14-MONTH TERM GIVEN IN POT SALES

A man who said he was helping out a friend when he sold her an ounce of marijuana last year was sentenced to 14 months in jail Monday.

"I'm giving you a break, son. Straighten your life out," Montgomery County Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore told the defendant.

James R. Dudley, 24, of Christiansburg pleaded guilty to a charge of selling marijuana and no contest to a second charge of the same. He also was placed on probation for three years.

Dudley was indicted by a grand jury June 9 on two counts of selling more than a half-ounce of marijuana in January and February 1989.

According to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Schwab, an informant working for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department bought a bag of marijuana for $100 from Dudley at his Christiansburg residence on Jan. 30.

Four days later, an undercover officer with the Sheriff's Department also bought a $100 bag from Dudley.

Dudley testified that he had been addicted to cocaine and he sold it to support his habit. He said he sold the marijuana only to help out a friend and did not make any money off the deal.

Dudley also has been convicted in U.S. District Court in Roanoke on federal charges of selling cocaine and conspiracy to sell cocaine. On those charges, he received a 14-month sentence to be followed by three years on probation, Dudley testified.

As part of his federal sentence, Dudley will undergo drug and alcohol treatment both during his time in jail and after he gets out. During his probation, Dudley will have to submit to random drug tests and could be sent back to jail if he is found to be using drugs while on probation.

Dudley will be subject to the same guidelines on the state charges and his sentence will run concurrently with the federal sentence.

He was arrested Nov. 24 on a charge of attempting to solicit another person to commit a felony, in this case breaking and entering. Dudley has been held since then in the Montgomery County Jail. That charge is pending.

by CNB