FARMINGTON – The local man that pleaded guilty to trafficking in heroin was sentenced to 36 months in prison Tuesday, agreeing to forfeit a vehicle and a handgun to the state.
Mark Barrett, 60 of Farmington, previously pleaded guilty in September 2017 to unlawful trafficking in a scheduled drug, a Class B felony, as well as illegal importation, a Class C felony. At that time, he also admitted to two criminal forfeitures, with police taking ownership of a vehicle and a firearm that the state says were involved in the commission of the crime. A separate hearing will be scheduled to determine the fate of other firearms that Barrett owned.
According to Assistant Attorney General David Fisher, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Farmington Police Department began investigating Barrett after developing information that he may be responsible for importing heroin from out of state. Investigators applied for a search warrant, which police executed on July 14, 2016 on Barrett’s vehicle, a black 2006 Honda Accord, and on his residence.
The search of the vehicle resulted in police finding 37 grams of heroin in a black bag tied to the gear shifter, as well as another, smaller amount inside a key fob beneath Barrett’s seat, on the front passenger side. In the house, police located a number of small plastic bags and an apparent drug ledger, Fisher said.
Police previously said they also located three shotguns, five rifles, 12 handguns and several boxes of ammunition in the residence. A handgun was located in the vehicle.
Barrett’s attorney, Adam Sherman, previously said that his client’s pleas were in the nature of an Alford Plea, in which a defendant maintains his innocence or disagrees with the state’s version of the case but agrees to plead guilty to minimize the risk of a trial and a longer prison sentence.
The arranged plea includes a sentence of eight years on the trafficking conviction, with all but 36 months suspended, followed by two years of probation. The illegal importation charge will carry a 36-month sentence to be served concurrent to the trafficking sentence.
The handgun in the vehicle will be turned over to the Farmington Police Department as part of the criminal forfeiture, while the fate of the other guns will depend on a hearing. The vehicle will also be taken via criminal forfeiture.
There are also two, $400 fines for each felony. Fisher had asked that the FPD be reimbursed for $465-worth of drug tests, but that restitution was rejected by Justice Thomas Delahanty. The judge told Fisher that drug testing was part of the state’s investigation and therefore a public expense.
The operator of Barrett’s vehicle, Guy Stevens, 42 of Farmington, pleaded guilty to trafficking in April and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Stevens, who appeared before a different judge, was ordered to pay restitution to the FPD.
It ain’t going to stop until the courts start handing out harsher sentences!
Yes…this little time spent in Jail means nothing…the courts are way to easy on this kind of stuff. Hand out some harsh sentences Court system!
Absolutely will not stop and I feel that each crime of this nature should hand out the same sentence, not different because 1 is in a position to pay large amounts of money for attorneys and judges to let them off and then along comes the guy/gal who has no money and they get a much harsher sentence…. Our judicial system is a total mess and my opinion is that it needs to change….