EX-GUARD GETS PROBATION FOR SELLING INMATE DRUGS

A former prison guard who pleaded guilty to a felony charge stemming
from selling drugs in prison, was sentenced to three years probation
Wednesday.

U.W. Clemon, U.S. District chief judge of the Northern District,
issued the sentence following a short hearing for Cedric Bothwell.
Bothwell was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Bothwell brought marijuana
into the St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville where he was a
guard and sold it to an inmate. Bothwell had worked for the system for
15 years, but was fired following his indictment and arrest.

Bothwell pleaded guilty last September to one count of unlawful
distribution of marijuana.

His charge related to an extortion investigation at the prison, where
the FBI said Bothwell sold drugs at the prison, allowed an inmate to
build a debt and accepted payment from the inmate's mother.

In July, Bothwell's former defense attorney, John Floyd, of Gadsden,
was convicted of charges of tampering with a witness in the federal
extortion investigation involving Bothwell. Floyd will be sentenced
Feb. 17.

In 2002, convicted Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bomber Thomas E.
Blanton Jr. had accused Bothwell of punching him in the face. Prison
officials said an investigation showed there was not sufficient
evidence to prosecute.