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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 24, 1992                   TAG: 9203240384
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Victoria Ratcliff
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SHUCKERS OWNER SENTENCED TO 4 YEARS

The owner of the now-defunct Shuckers Restaurant was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine.

Ronald G. Randolph, 39, of Salem, pleaded guilty last month in U.S. District Court in Roanoke and faced a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $4 million fine.

But federal prosecutors agreed to a reduced sentence because Randolph has assisted the government since his arrest in August 1990 with a kilogram of cocaine in his possession.

In a summary of evidence presented at Randolph's hearing in February, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant said Randolph moved from Florida to Roanoke in 1982 after he became involved in dealing drugs in Florida and was afraid he was about to get caught. He opened Shuckers on the Roanoke City Market shortly after moving.

In 1983, Randolph re-established contact with his Florida supplier and bought between one and four kilograms of cocaine two or three times a year. He then sold that cocaine to sub-dealers in the Roanoke area, Bondurant said.

Randolph, who operated Shuckers for eight years, closed the restaurant after his arrest.

by CNB