Former Pooler cop sentenced to
17 months in federal prison
By Jan Skutch
Former Pooler police officer
John William “Billy” Stanley on Monday was sentenced to 17 months in federal
prison for knowingly attempting to hide a drug conspiracy while on the police
force.
Stanley, 36, also must serve a
year on supervised release once he completes his prison term and perform 40
hours of community service, U.S. District Judge William T. Moore Jr. ordered.
He was allowed to remain free
until June 23 when he must report to the federal prison designated for his
incarceration.
Stanley admitted his role on
March 28 in connection with a Pooler-based “pill mill” prescription
distribution ring headed by Donald Fowler and his wife, Martha, between 2004
and 2011.
Stanley, who resigned from the
Pooler force in June 2013, has been allowed to remain free on his pre-trial
bond. He is a former police sergeant in Pooler, a former Pooler councilman and
a businessman, court documents show.
Defense attorney Michael
Schiavone, in a sentencing memorandum to Moore, called the defendant “a
kind-hearted person and officer, always willing to help everyone. He made a
terrible mistake, not for financial gain but based on caring for people who he
thought of as family.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian
Tanner, in the plea agreement filed with Moore, said the government would not
object to a recommendation by probation officer that Stanley receive a
two-level reduction for accepting responsibility.
Stanley was named in a
three-count indictment on Jan. 9 on charges of conspiring to possess with
intent to distribute and distribution of controlled substances on or about July
14, 2011.
Federal prosecutors contended
the Fowlers were running a pill-mill operation out of their home in Pooler and
were using “mules” to drive prescriptions to pill-mill doctors in Georgia and
Florida beginning in 2004.
Stanley, who was friends with
the Fowlers, became aware of the drug scheme and when one of their “mules” was
arrested by Pooler police in mid-2011, he became concerned the mule would give
up the Fowlers, prosecutors said.
Stanley then alerted the
Fowlers, hoping they would remove any drugs from their home.
The indictment also charged him
with being an accessory after the fact — that he knew the crime was being
committed but did nothing to hinder or prevent the offenders — and that he
concealed his knowledge from authorities.
