Pubdate: Wed, 13 Apr 2005
Source: Virginian-Pilot (VA)
Copyright: 2005, The Virginian-Pilot
Contact:  http://www.pilotonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/483
Author: John Hopkins
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MAN GETS 20 YEARS IN PRISON ON DRUG CHARGES

CHESAPEAKE -- A 36-year-old San Diego man was sentenced to 20 years in 
prison Tuesday for transporting drugs by commercial airline into Chesapeake.

Police seized 12.9 pounds of marijuana and $203,108 when they arrested 
Darrell D. Bell and an accomplice at a Greenbrier extended-stay hotel in 
late 2003. Bell told police he had transported 220 pounds of marijuana and 
another 108 pounds on other occasions.

"I'd just like to apologize to the court and the people of Virginia for the 
mistake I've made," said Bell, a father of three and former employee at an 
elementary school in San Diego.

Circuit Judge V. Thomas Forehand Jr. sentenced Bell on charges of 
transporting drugs into the commonwealth, possession of marijuana with the 
intent to distribute, possession of a firearm with drugs and conspiracy. 
His accomplice, Kevin Allen Key, 36, of Las Vegas, is scheduled to be 
sentenced June 3.

The two men flew into Hampton Roads from San Diego, rented two rooms at the 
Sun Suites of Chesapeake at 1520 Crossways Blvd., and sold drugs in pound 
quantities, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Kenneth A. 
Phillips, who prosecuted both cases. They kept the drugs in one room and 
the money in another.

"He stated that he pushed in the bad neighborhoods," Phillips said. "He 
stated that he sold nothing smaller than a pound."

Although airport security was increased after Sept. 11, 2001, Bell admitted 
to police that they transported the drugs by air, according to the prosecution.

Jo Anne Spencer, Bell's attorney, said her client wasn't the leader of the 
drug scheme. She would have argued at trial that her client actually 
purchased the drugs here, she said.

He failed to make money during his first trip to Chesapeake, she said in 
arguing for a lighter sentence. Bell had lived an exemplary life before the 
crime, Spencer said.

"We're talking about marijuana," Spencer told the judge. "We're not talking 
about cocaine or heroin. We're not talking about any hard-core, addictive 
drugs."

Forehand called the crime a "rather elaborate and sophisticated criminal 
enterprise," and one of the biggest of its kind he's seen. He dismissed the 
notion that marijuana is a lesser drug.

"It's still illegal," Forehand said. "It's still deemed by many experts as 
harmful. ... "

Bell was a "noon-duty assistant" at Knox Elementary in San Diego, a 
position that required him to organize and oversee children at lunch and 
recreation, said Steven Baratte, a school spokesman.

Bell entered a conditional guilty plea in February, a move that will allow 
him to appeal an earlier court ruling by another judge concerning the 
suppression of evidence in his case. His accomplice, Key, was convicted by 
a jury in January of conspiracy and possession with the intent to 
distribute marijuana.

The jury recommended a sentence of 31 years in prison for Key.
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