Pubdate: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2002 Richmond Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Rex Bowman, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer MOONSHINER GETS 41-MONTH TERM BY Sentence Instills Sobering Message ROANOKE - A federal judge yesterday sentenced legendary Rocky Mount moonshiner William "Dee" Stanley to 41 months in prison. Stanley, 56, who helped Franklin County establish a reputation as the center of Virginia's illicit bootlegging industry, was also fined $7,500 in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. The moonshiner was sentenced with five others involved in the area's untaxed liquor trade. He had faced a maximum sentence of more than seven years in prison and a fine of $2 million. U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson lessened the penalty considerably, however, at the recommendation of federal prosecutors. They said Stanley had cooperated with their investigation, breaking the notorious code of silence among moonshiners that has stymied alcohol agents for decades. Stanley was swept up for prosecution as part of Operation Lightning Strike, a joint federal-state investigation that resulted in the conviction of 26 people from Franklin and Pittsylvania counties, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Most of them pleaded guilty after prosecutors disclosed that they had videotaped defendants, lifted fingerprints from moonshine jugs, deciphered coded ledgers and persuaded other defendants to testify for the prosecution. Had the cases gone to trial, Stanley "more than likely would have been the government's most substantive, factual witness," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jake Jacobson said. "Mr. Stanley was able to provide a unique perspective." So far, 19 have received sentences ranging from probation and fines to short prison stays. The remaining seven defendants are to be sentenced tomorrow. Prosecutors said the various moonshining operations broken up by Operation Lightning Strike had produced more than 1.4 million gallons of untaxed liquor since 1992. Stanley and his son pleaded guilty to various moonshine-related charges in March. Authorities said they had enough evidence from the Lightning Strike investigation to prove Stanley and a partner produced 118,440 gallons of untaxed liquor between 1992 and 1999, costing the government $2.7 million in lost revenue. Moonshining is largely a family business in Franklin, and the Stanley family's involvement stretches back several decades. Stanley served time in federal prison for moonshining in the early 1970s. He has been charged with various moonshine-related offenses four times since 1990, but was convicted only once, when he was sentenced to a year of probation after pleading guilty to hauling more than 350 gallons of untaxed liquor to North Carolina. The others sentenced yesterday are Delmon Lee, 61, and Larry F. Clarke, 71, both of Spring Lake, N.C.; both received probation. Lee was fined $2,000 and Clarke was fined $1,000. Steven A. Motley, 44, of Glade Hill, was also sentenced to probation. William K. Cobler, 60, of Rocky Mount, who helped Stanley run his clandestine distillery, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Stanley's son, Jason Stanley, 27, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison and fined $3,000. Like the other five defendants sentenced yesterday, Jason Stanley cooperated with prosecutors, and he asked Judge Wilson to spare him prison time. As his father has done before, he told the judge his moonshining days are over. "I like my job really much, and I'd hate to have to lose it, because jobs are hard to find in my area," the Rocky Mount resident said. "As for liquor, I'm through with it, your honor." "I hope to never see you in this courtroom again," Wilson responded. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager