PEEPLES RECEIVES SUSPENDED SENTENCE

PUNTA GORDA -- Vernon Peeples Jr. apologized in court Monday for
bringing shame to his family's name after being arrested twice on drug charges.

Peeples, a former local Democratic Party chairman, pleaded no contest
to charges of possession of cocaine, possession of less than 20 grams
of marijuana and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Circuit Judge Michael McHugh accepted the plea agreement and
sentenced Peeples to a suspended term of one year in prison. He will
not serve any time in jail as long as he successfully completes six
months of drug offender community control, or house arrest, and then
two years of drug offender probation.

The charges stem from arrests in December 2004 and September 2005
when the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office SWAT team raided his home.

"I think it was an equitable resolution to the case," said Assistant
State Attorney Don Mason. "The court also took into consideration Mr.
Peeples has no prior convictions at all."

A SWAT team raided Peeples' Gilchrist Avenue home on Dec. 30, 2004.
Police found 10.9 pounds of marijuana, most of it packed into two
black suitcases in a bedroom, authorities said.

Investigators also uncovered cocaine and drug paraphernalia, along
with $3,000 cash, according to reports.

Peeples' co-defendant, Elizabeth Picerno, 42, pleaded no contest in
July to the same drug charges and was placed on six months of
community control and two years of drug offender probation.

On Sept. 1, 2005, the SWAT team raided the house again and found
Peeples and Picerno in the master bedroom with two small chrome vials
containing cocaine and another small vial containing marijuana.

Peeples made a formal statement in court, apologizing for his actions
and the shame it brought to his family's name.

Peeples has been involved in the Charlotte County Democratic Party
for years. His father, Vernon Peeples Sr., served 10 years in the
Florida House of Representatives.