Alleged Elderly Meth Courier Sentenced To Time Served, Home Confinement
PITTSBURGH (AP) — An 80-year-old man who twice crossed the country as a methamphetamine courier will avoid prison after cooperating with authorities in Pennsylvania.
Dominick Spickle of Sacramento, California, twice brought crystal methamphetamine from California to his native Westmoreland County.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti sentenced him Friday to 74 days of time served plus a year of home confinement.
Spickle transported a half-pound of the drug over two trips with his dog, Peanut, before an undercover officer arrested him.
The judge called it perplexing that he would become involved in crime again, several decades after he was charged with gun and sex crimes.
Spickle apologized in court, saying he was desperate and "afraid of losing everything I own."
His lawyer argued that his mental decline would make him vulnerable in prison.
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