Man, 74, convicted of heroin deal
By Heather Stauffer, Sentinel Reporter, November 5, 2009
Last updated: Thursday, November 5, 2009 3:53 PM EST
A Cumberland County jury deliberated less than two hours yesterday before finding the 74-year-old South Middleton Township resident guilty of arranging a heroin deal from Cumberland County Prison.
Williard testified Tuesday that Rodger Atwood, a fellow inmate, was the one who initiated and orchestrated the deal. In closing arguments, Williard’s court-appointed attorney, Charles Mackin, suggested that Williard had been the victim of entrapment by Atwood and state police.
“See how they lured Elwood into it and then they shut the trap on him,” Mackin said. He told the jury the case was “infected by Rodger Atwood and his desire to help himself,” calling Atwood a “snitch extraordinaire,” “monster” and “snake.”
Prosecutor Derek Clepper, senior assistant district attorney, told the jury it wouldn’t make sense for Atwood, a career criminal, to seek out someone like Williard for help on a scheme. He reminded them that they had heard a recording of Williard arranging for a pickup of 10 bundles, or bricks, of heroin, and that authorities seized exactly that many in the sting.
“Exactly like ordering a pizza, except it was heroin, from prison,” Clepper said.
As to the concept of entrapment, which a jury may find as a legitimate reason against conviction, Clepper pointed out that it refers to someone who would not otherwise have committed the crime. The timing of the phone calls showed that Williard was trying to arrange the deal before the other inmate talked to police, he said.
Williard will be sentenced by Judge Merle “Skip” Ebert on Dec. 8.
Clepper said Williard faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, but that he will be seeking more than that. he also plans to ask that Williard’s sentence run consecutively to whatever he gets on last month’s conviction for selling heroin from his home.
“I want Mr. Williard to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Clepper said. “He has shown no remorse. He has taken no responsibility for his actions. He has polluted our community with heroin. He does not deserve ever to get out of prison.”
State Police Sgt. Jonathan Mays noted that the investigation that originally landed Williard in prison began with the death of a man whose girlfriend testified he had used cocaine purchased from Williard.
The story so far
Elwood Williard, 74, of the 200 block of Pine Road, South Middleton Township, was convicted last month of selling heroin from his home in 2008.
Williard is awaiting sentencing on those charges and faces a mandatory minimum three-year jail term. His co-defendant in that case, Kim Potts, 40, who lived at the same address, pleaded guilty to possession of heroin with intent to deliver and is serving a three- to six-year mandatory minimum sentence at state prison in Muncy.
The current charges against Williard - possession of heroin with intent to deliver, conspiracy to the same and criminal use of a communications facility - stem from circumstances that arose while he was in Cumberland County Prison awaiting trial on the first charges, according to state police.
Williard is accused of asking another inmate, Rodger Atwood, to help him with a drug-dealing setup, and then of using the prison phone to call his companion, 80-year-old Carolyn Hocker, and make arrangements.
Police said they followed through with an undercover agent and performed a sting in Bucks County after the deal, arresting a suspected gang member and “Mrs. T,” a woman who sold the agent 10 bricks of heroin after Williard and Hocker arranged the deal.
http://cumberlink.com/articles/2009/11/06/news/local/doc4af1b1968407d687639642.txt
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Heroin dealer, 74, sentenced to prison by Cumberland County judge By MATT MILLER, The Patriot-News December 01, 2009, 10:17AM
Convicted heroin dealer Elwood Williard, 74, of South Middleton Township, was sentenced by a Cumberland County judge this morning to 3 to 15 years in state prison and a $15,000 fine.
Williard was convicted in October of selling drugs from his Pine Road home in the fall of 2008. State police said they focused on Williard after a Carlisle-area man overdosed and died from heroin he bought at the house.
Kim Potts, a woman who was charged with Williard. pleaded guilty to drug dealing and is serving a state prison term
During his trial, Williard claimed he wasn't a drug dealer, but admitted he had handled drug transactions on Potts' behalf. Authorities insisted that Williard was a main player in the drug operation. Williard also is awaiting trial on his November conviction for trying to arrange a heroin deal from prison after his initial arrest.
Prosecutor Derek Clepper has vowed to ask the court for a series of sentences that will send Williard to prison for the rest of his life.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2009/12/heroin_dealer_74_sentenced_to.html
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