Man sentenced to five years for drug possession

A Whitley County man, caught by U.S. Forest Service Agents with 11 grams of methamphetamine and a dozen Hydrocodone pills during a drug raid last May, was sentenced to serve five years in prison Monday by a federal judge in London.
Donald C. Liford entered a guilty plea to a single charge of possession with intent to distribute five or more grams of methamphetamine.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves said Liford must serve five years behind bars, with five years of supervised release after his sentence is over. He is also to pay a $100 special assessment.
Liford was originally scheduled to be sentenced July 7.
According to an affidavit, written by U.S. Forest Service Special Agent Robert S. O’Neill, Liford was arrested at the residence of Ronnie and Betty Jane Smith at 242 Ford Lane in Whitley County. Authorities had received information of drug activity at the home and had obtained consent to search from the owners. O’Neill investigated the case.
While police were in the process of searching, Liford arrived at the residence and said he needed to gain access to a detached garage on the property. O’Neill had been in the garage earlier and discovered “baggies” of marijuana packaged for sale.
Liford was denied access and told to leave.
He turned away and began walking down the driveway, but doubled back and approached police again. They searched him for narcotics and found two plastic bags in his right pants pocket that contained a white crystal substance and 12 green pills. Analysis by the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab in London revealed the crystal substance to be 11 grams of 68 percent pure methamphetamine. The pills were Hydrocodone – a powerful prescription painkiller.
Liford was not arrested until Jan. 18 of this year after O’Neill filed a criminal complaint against him. He was indicted by a grand jury in February and has remained in jail since his arrest. He originally pleaded not guilty to the charge at an arraignment hearing in February, but suddenly changed his plea in April.