KINGSPORT PHARMACIST SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON

BLOUNTVILLE - A judge ruled Friday that former Stone Drive Pharmacy owner
John Briggs will go to prison for eight of a 20-year prison term for
multiple counts of unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance.

Briggs, 59, pleaded guilty in February to 16 counts of the Class D felony
for selling Darvocet, Ultram and Lortab to customers without prescriptions.
The plea agreement called for a four-year prison sentence for each count,
with the first five counts running consecutively and the remaining counts
running concurrently for an effective sentence of 20 years.

The agreement also called for Briggs to sell his business and forfeit half
the net earnings to the Kingsport Police Department and relinquish his
pharmacist license.

Briggs' attorney, Wayne Culbertson, told Judge Jerry Beck that his client
has complied with those conditions and paid $17,170 in fines and court costs.

In ruling that Briggs must serve part of his sentence, Beck said the
court's problem with the case "is the number of drugs dispensed illegally
through this drugstore."

Prosecutors alleged that Briggs sold 140,000 pills in more than 1,100
prescriptions between February 1997 and May 2000.

Beck also noted that Briggs' lack of a criminal record and support from the
community was favorable. Briggs will have to serve two years, four months
and 24 days before becoming eligible for parole.

Briggs' wife, Geraldene Briggs, pleaded guilty in February to one count of
unlawfully dispensing a controlled substance.

In her case, Beck granted judicial diversion for a period of four years.