Pubdate: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 Source: Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) Copyright: 2002 The Herald-Sun Contact: http://www.herald-sun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428 Author: Beth Velliquette, The Herald-Sun MARIJUANA THIEF GETS 5 YEARS IN PRISON GREENSBORO -- One of four men charged with stealing marijuana buried by sheriff's deputies in the Chatham County landfill was sentenced Friday in U.S. Middle District Court to five years and one month in prison. David Wayne Stout of Kernersville, who was convicted in August of conspiracy to possess more than 110 pounds of marijuana with intent to distribute it, apologized to the court, the FBI, his family and community before he was sentenced. Judge N. Carlton Tilley Jr. said he had received letters from Stout's friends and family asking for probation, but he explained to them he that probation was not an option. "People think a judge can just give probation and community service, but we can't," he said. "We have guidelines to follow." The minimum sentence Stout could have received was 57 months in prison, based on the federal sentencing guidelines, Tilley said. Stout's attorney, Amos Tyndell, asked the judge to give Stout the minimum sentence, saying that Stout, 38, had in his youth spent time in prison but that he had made a remarkable recovery. He built a successful business pressure washing large commercial buildings and industrial sites, and he has supported his girlfriend and her children, Tyndell said. Stout thanked the judge for letting him attend his father's funeral while he was being held awaiting his sentencing hearing and apologized again. "I lost my business, and I set a bad example for my children," Stout told the judge. "I wish there was some way I could repay them, but I can't." The judge said he couldn't understand why Stout, after building a successful life, business and family, would risk it all for a chance to make money selling marijuana. "On the plus side, you do have people who care a great deal about you," Tilley told Stout as he pointed to the friends and family who attended the sentencing hearing. Once Stout serves his sentence, he will be on supervised probation for five years and must perform 300 hours of community service. Tilley also told Stout to obtain drug and alcohol testing and treatment if it is recommended. Stout received the longest sentence of any of the four men who were charged in a scheme to dig up marijuana that had been buried in the landfill by the Chatham County Sheriff's Office. Jodie Brafford, the backhoe operator who helped bury the marijuana for the Sheriff's Office and then gave Stout a map of where it was buried, had his sentence reduced to weekends in jail because he cooperated with investigators and testified against Stout. Investigators still have not charged or indicted anyone for stealing most of about 5,000 pounds of marijuana from an Army truck parked behind the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, where it was being stored after it was seized in a drug raid in Siler City. When Randy Keck of the Chatham County Sheriff's Office discovered that about 4,000 pounds of marijuana was missing from the truck, he buried the rest of it in the landfill with the help of Brafford, who later testified he dug up a bale of the marijuana within minutes after Keck left the landfill. Brafford then told Stout about the marijuana, and Stout brought in four friends: Gary Leslie Causey; Causey's father, who has since died; James Benjamin Harris; and a fourth man, who has not been charged. Together, they went to the landfill in the middle of the night in October 2000 and dug up about 200 pounds. Their marijuana enterprise fell apart when Harris was arrested in an undercover sting operation. Causey and Harris also testified against Stout in Stout's trial. They pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute in excess of 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of marijuana and received reduced sentences in exchange for their cooperation. Harris was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Causey was sentenced to 17 months in prison, followed by supervised release of three years. URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/chatham/13-288843.html - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake