By PAVEL BAILEY
A MAN was fined yesterday for drug charges and taking contraband into a correctional facility.
Deangelo Neeley, 34, of Poplar Street, stood before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney for sentencing a day after he pleaded guilty to taking the items into the female dorms of the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.
The items were found at BDCS on February 5 in a black plastic bag. These prohibited items were later identified as one pound and eight ounces of Indian hemp along with six cell phones, three cigarette cartons and a pack of cigars.
In court, Neeley’s attorney Troy Kellman asked for leniency for his client. He submitted there was as a scale of severity to offences of this nature and that Neeley met the middle of this. Kellman said his client was arrested for a relatively small amount of drugs and the other contraband items were not as dangerous as other prohibited items at a correctional facility.
Kellman informed the court that Neeley was married with a dependent. He also said Neeley had dutifully obeyed the law in the six years since his last drug conviction up until this incident and that he was truly remorseful for his actions.
Magistrate McKinney then sentenced Neeley to a fine of $5,000 or one year in prison for the charge of taking prohibited articles into a correctional facility. The magistrate also fined the accused $2,500 for the drug charges or in default of payment of the fine, six months in prison.
He has a right to appeal within seven days of his sentencing.
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