Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407150065
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium
Patrick Wilson Johnson, who lived in Narrows until 1991, pleaded not guilty to the four-count drug indictment in January. But on Thursday he admitted taking part in a scheme to sell more than 100 kilograms of drugs.
The U.S. attorney's office dropped the remaining three charges in return for Johnson's guilty plea to the first count of the indictment.
Larry Humphries, a special agent with the state police, testified that police seized more than $104,000 - one of the largest amounts ever taken by state police in a drug case - following Johnson's arrest in Montgomery County in May 1991.
Officers found nearly $65,000 in cash, 10 pounds of marijuana and a small amount of cocaine in Johnson's car, he said. They later went to a storage space rented by Johnson and found $39,600 and a pound of marijuana.
State and local charges against Johnson were dropped so he could be prosecuted in the federal system, which imposed stiffer penalties in drug cases, but the Giles County man fled before he was indicted.
Federal agents tracked and recaptured Johnson last December in Oregon where he was using another name.
Johnson, who is free on bond until his sentencing, faces 10 years to life in prison because he has had a prior marijuana conviction.
Police also seized Johnson's car and his 43.5 acre farm in Giles County, which they sold for $43,100, Humphries said. All of the money has been turned over to the government.
Johnson told U.S. District Judge James Turk that he is a former electrician who now lives in "Southside Virginia."
by CNB