ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997 TAG: 9701220031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
A 59-year-old man who authorities say was the major source of heroin in Roanoke County will serve 10 years in prison for selling the drug.
Wilford Harley Neighbors pleaded guilty in November to four counts of distributing heroin. He was sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years on each of the charges. He faced a maximum sentence of life plus 40 years on the charges.
Neighbors supplied between 10 and 12 heroin addicts with their drug, according to police accounts. Detectives say he took in as much as $2,000 a day, often making his sales in the parking lots of Roanoke County fast-food restaurants.
But Neighbors maintained Tuesday in Roanoke County Circuit Court that he sold heroin only to support his own habit, according to his court-appointed attorney, Jack Gregory.
In a November interview, Neighbors said his connection with the heroin community dated back to 1972, when he was convicted of selling morphine, a derivative of heroin.
He says he became addicted to heroin when a friend introduced him to the drug to kick his dependence on painkillers.
Last year, as police infiltrated the small circle of heroin addicts in Roanoke County, the community began to unravel. Police made their case against Neighbors after one of his customers agreed to set him up.
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