ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990                   TAG: 9005030652
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TWO YOUNG MEN ENTER GUILTY PLEAS TO DRUG CHARGES

Two young men who were accused of flashing around a slab of crack cocaine while riding a New York-to-Roanoke bus pleaded guilty today to charges of possessing and conspiring to distribute eight grams of the drug.

Tyrone Dockery Haskins, 18, and Earl Allen Hale, 19, entered guilty pleas in U.S. District Court in Roanoke. Haskins had been indicted as Tyrone Dockery Johnson but told Judge James Turk today that his actual last name was Haskins.

The charges stemmed from an incident in January in which police arrested Haskins, Hale and a 17-year-old as they got off at the Greyhound terminal in downtown Roanoke. Police were tipped by a passenger who called the Roanoke Crime Line from Lynchburg to report that the three were carrying drugs.

The young men bragged that they were going to make $1,300 by selling the drug in Roanoke, M.B. Viar, a detective with the Roanoke City Police Department, testified today.

The young men flew to New York on Jan. 18 to buy crack to sell in Roanoke, Viar testified. The three returned to Roanoke by bus on Jan. 19.

Haskins, a New Jersey native, lived in New York for several years before moving to Roanoke last fall. Hale is from Roanoke.

Haskins pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and one count of possession with intent to distribute. He faces a maximum 40-year prison term and $2 million fine on each count. Each count carries a mandatory minimum prison term of five years.

Hale pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute. He also had been charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute but that count was dismissed in a plea agreement.

Hale faces a maximum 40-year prison term and $2 million fine. The one count carries a mandatory minimum prison term of five years. 


 by CNB