FORMER SHERIFF GETS FINE, PROBATION IN DRUG CASE

From Times-Picayune Staff Reports

The former sheriff of Washington Parish was sentenced to three years of
probation and fined $1,000 Wednesday for altering a prescription to obtain
a higher dose of the painkiller OxyContin.

Duane Blair, who served as sheriff for nine years, was arrested and charged
with "fraud, forgery and deception" earlier this year. In June, he pleaded
guilty to a misdemeanor charge of drug possession.

Federal prosecutors said they allowed Blair to plead guilty to the lesser
charge because he wasn't planning to distribute the drug. Instead, he was
going to use it to ease his chronic back pain.

Blair faced a possible penalty of up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.
He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial.