Published: January 22, 2009 08:37 am      

Longtime bootlegger gets 2 years

Boyd Swafford must self-surrender by March 17

By Brad Hicks / Staff Writer

Longtime bootlegger Boyd Swafford was sentenced in U.S. District Court in London on Wednesday to two years in prison for allowing drugs to be sold at his Rockholds residence.

In August 2008, Swafford, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of using and maintaining a place for distributing controlled substances. He was indicted with son James Swafford and nephew Noel Perkins Jr. on conspiracy trafficking charges and money laundering in February 2007.

According to plea agreement documents filed in U.S. District Court, from January 2004 through February 2005, Boyd Swafford, James Swafford, Steve Curnutt and Noel Perkins entered into an agreement where drugs would be sold out of a garage located on Boyd Swafford’s property on McNeil Corn Creek Road.

Documents state James Swafford, Curnutt and Perkins operated an “open air drive-thru drug operation,” in which people would pull up to the garage in their vehicles and place orders for drugs. These drugs would then be delivered to those who had placed the orders.

On any given day, 300 people or more would purchase controlled substances, and numerous pills and cases of beer were sold. According to court documents, it was estimated that no less than 40,000 Schedule II controlled substances were sold during the 12-month investigation.

Boyd Swafford and other members of the alleged conspiracy were arrested by officials from Operation UNITE after a raid on his home and two adjacent properties.

Boyd Swafford’s attorney, Warren Scoville, was seeking a reduction in the sentencing guideline Boyd Swafford was facing because he said his client only pleaded guilty to supplying a place for the transactions to take place.

“My client pled to providing a place for these people to sell drugs,” Scoville said. “He didn’t plead to the conspiracy ... I just think he provided a place. They did everything else.”

Boyd Swafford kept his comments brief.

“I would just like to say I apologize to Mr. Scoville and all of the court,” he said. “That’s all I have to say.”

Scoville again sought leniency in Boyd Swafford’s sentencing, stating his client had health problems and that his son and his friends got him into trouble. Scoville said he was not denying Boyd Swafford had been involved with other activities from his residence in the past but said his client was not into the distribution of prescription pills.

“Not the pill business,” Scoville said. “That’s not the business he was in.”

In November 2008, Boyd Swafford was sentenced to two years in prison on the unrelated charge of receiving stolen property. That sentence will run concurrently with Wednesday’s federal sentence of 24 months, which follows the sentence recommended by prosecutors.

Noel Perkins was sentenced to 12 months for his role and James Swafford received a 52-month sentence in the alleged conspiracy.

Upon his release from prison, Boyd Swafford will be under supervised release for a period of three years. Because of health issues, U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell said that it would be recommended Boyd Swafford serve his prison term at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington.

Caldwell said because of his health and age, she does not feel Boyd Swafford poses a threat to the community. He was allowed to leave the courtroom, having previously bonded out. He must self-surrender to the Bureau of Prison by 2 p.m. on March 17.