Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 13, 1992 TAG: 9203130449
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Stanley pleaded guilty to transporting 364 gallons of untaxed whiskey through the county in January.
In return, Stanley agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and spend a year on probation, according to Stephanie Shorter, an assistant commonwealth's attorney.
The guilty plea reverses his three-year string of not-guilty verdicts in moonshine cases.
In 1989, a federal jury acquitted Stanley on a charge of making untaxed liquor after he was arrested driving a truck loaded with 246 gallons of moonshine.
In 1990, a Franklin County jury also acquitted Stanley after state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents found a moonshine still in a garage behind his house.
Stanley, 46, was arrested in January when a state trooper stopped him for speeding along Interstate 81 near Lexington.
Trooper W.C. Byrd searched the vehicle after he smelled a strong odor of alcohol from beneath the covered bed of a 1992 Ford pickup truck. The officer found 364 gallons of moonshine in 1-gallon jugs.
Authorities said they believed Stanley was transporting the liquor from Franklin County to buyers in Philadelphia or another Eastern city.
Stanley entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanor possession charge on Thursday in Rockingham County General District Court.
Stanley could not be reached for comment after the hearing.
Authorities said the truck Stanley was driving will be returned to its owner, Betty Ann Young of Glade Hill.
Young had no comment Thursday about the circumstances under which Stanley borrowed the vehicle, which is equipped with extra-duty springs to keep it from sagging under heavy loads.
by CNB