JUDGE SENTENCES BABYFACE DEALERS

Neither Youth Seeks Rehabilitation Help

Two former Northside High School students who confessed to selling drugs to
an undercover police officer to either support a marijuana habit or make
extra money went to jail Monday.

The only students charged in adult court, Russell Scott Bailes and Derek
Alexander Chapman each received jail sentences from Judge Roy Willett in
Roanoke County Circuit Court. Willett told both men, now 19, that he wished
them luck in turning their lives around.

"Your life isn't ruined," Willett told Bailes after giving him a total of
10 months to serve in jail for selling LSD and marijuana. "You're a young
man. You can overcome this, but you have to pay for the things you've done."

Chapman got a total of four months to serve for selling marijuana and
conspiring with a juvenile to sell marijuana. Both sentences were at the
low-end of sentencing guidelines; Bailes faced up to 50 years in prison,
while Chapman faced up to 12.

Both men were caught during Operation Babyface, a 10-month operation that
placed a female police officer in Northside and William Byrd high schools
to identify drug dealers. Officer K.L. Moulton posed as a 17-year-old
junior for the second half of the 2000 school year and then for summer
school. Nine students were charged, while the names of about 50 more were
recommended for substance abuse counseling.

Bailes and Chapman were the only ones who were 18 at the time they sold
drugs to Moulton. Last week, an 18-year-old teen who was 17 at the time he
sold marijuana, Ecstasy , prescription drugs and imitation drugs was
ordered by a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge to spend six
weekends in jail.

Defense attorneys for Bailes and Chapman on Monday brought up the fact that
had it not been for a few months - the "magic line" of 18, their clients
could have been charged as juveniles as well and face lesser sentences.
Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Burkart later said the
closeness in ages likely had something to do with Bailes and Chapman not
receiving harsher sentences.

But unlike the two teens sentenced last week, Bailes and Chapman hadn't
made many attempts to change their lifestyles. Both testified they were
working - Bailes had his work supervisor testify on his behalf - but
neither had been to counseling or treatment. Both said they wanted to go to
college, and Chapman said he hoped to join the Navy.

The 18-year-old sentenced Thursday had been to counseling, Narcotics
Anonymous and was working toward his high school equivalency degree and
college credits at the same time. A 17-year-old, who received a suspended
sentence, had also been getting help.

Although a probation officer testified that Bailes told her he last smoked
marijuana in December, he disagreed with her and said he had been clean
since he was indicted in October. He submitted drug screens for only two
days in January and February, however, and testified that he didn't
consider drug counseling a top priority.

"I did it myself," Bailes told Willett. "I rehabilitated myself."

Chapman told his probation officer he last smoked pot Jan. 26.

"I didn't think I was an abuser of it," he said when Burkart asked why he
hadn't sought treatment. "I'm clean now."

Willett gave Bailes five years for the LSD charge, suspended after he
serves nine months, and two years on a felony marijuana distribution
charge, suspended after he serves 30 days. Bailes was also ordered to pay
back the $205 Moulton used to buy the drugs and pay a $250 fine.

Chapman received six months for each of two misdemeanor charges of selling
marijuana, suspended after he serves 30 days, and two years for conspiring
with a juvenile to sell marijuana, suspended after 60 days. He also has to
pay $250 in restitution.

The rest of the students charged in Operation Babyface are scheduled to be
sentenced next month.