On May 22, 2012, Everett Leo Ward, 58, of Grundy, Virginia received a fifty year prison sentence as a result of his sale of drugs and guns to an undercover informant. On five separate occasions, Ward sold Opana, which is a very potent pain medication, and hydrocodone to an informant for the local narcotics task force. Ward also sold a handgun and a rifle during the drug deals.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerald Arrington commented that “perhaps most disturbing was the fact that Mr. Ward parked in the parking lots of area merchants and sold the drugs and guns out of his pickup truck in broad daylight just a few feet away from unsuspecting shoppers. This case highlights the danger that the drug trade puts us all in.”
Ward will serve eight and a half years in prison before he is released and required to complete ten years of probation as a condition of his suspended sentence. When asked about the sentence, Arrington remarked “I felt that it was a fair sentence. While some may feel that Mr. Ward should have been given a lesser sentence due to his age, we agreed to a sentence just beyond the highest end of the recommended sentence range because of the weapons and because of where the sales took place. Drug dealers put us all in danger, and regardless of their age, they deserve to be punished appropriately.”
