Tony Richardson, the former police chief of Damascus, was in court yesterday for sentencing.
Richardson previously had pleaded guilty to eight drug-dealing charges and one weapons charge. His lawyer, Anthony Anderson, told Washington County Circuit Judge Birg Sergent that Richardson did it to impress a woman with whom he was romantically involved.
The ex-chief was “led astray” by the woman, who was a paid informant for the police and a “jilted lover,” Anderson said.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Dennis Godfrey painted a different picture of Richardson, whom he had called “a drug dealer with a badge.” Godfrey wanted Richardson in prison for 30 years; the judge gave Richardson five years, five months more than the sentence recommended by state guidelines.
The Bristol Herald Courier has the complete story.
By Paul Fletcher
