FORMER FIREFIGHTER SENTENCED
A former Tulsa firefighter who helped render assistance in the immediate
aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was sentenced Friday to 13
months in custody for maintaining an apartment that was used for the
manufacture of methamphetamine.

Johnny Mark Kirk was recommended by U.S. District Judge Sven Erik Holmes for
participation in a federal "boot camp" intensive incarceration program based
in Lewisburg, Pa. If Kirk successfully completes the six-month program, he
would serve the rest of his term in a halfway house.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert T. Raley said Kirk "had a good job and a good
family, but he got mixed up with the wrong crowd."

Kirk pleaded guilty July 16, saying that in June 1997 he provided Bristow
resident James Levi Edmondson a key to his Tulsa apartment. Kirk admitted
that he told Edmondson he could use the apartment to manufacture
methamphetamine.

Edmondson will be sentenced by U.S. Senior District Judge H. Dale Cook on
Oct. 30 for conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine
and maintaining his own place for purpose of distributing, manufacturing and
using meth.

Edmondson has been portrayed by prosecutors as one of the leaders of a
methamphetamine conspiracy that purportedly produced hundreds of pounds of
the drug throughout eastern Oklahoma from 1994 to 1997.

That case has boasted as many as 16 defendants. One of those people,
Drumright resident Janice Sue Patrick, was sentenced Friday by Cook to 57
months in prison, five years' supervised release and a $1,000 fine for
possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Her sentence could have been far worse. The conviction actually carried a
10-year statutory minimum, but Cook decided to use a "safety valve"
provision that Raley said can be used for first-time offenders who meet
various conditions.

Kirk was a Tulsa firefighter from October 1988 through June 1998. He
reportedly journeyed to Oklahoma City to assist in rescue efforts just after
the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, an
explosion that killed 168 and injured hundreds more.

Raley called Kirk "a perfect candidate" for the voluntary, military- style
boot camp program, which is designed to instill personal discipline and
physical fitness in first-time federal offenders.

Holmes also ruled that Kirk serve three years' supervised release, during
which time he will receive substance abuse counseling at the discretion of
the U.S. Probation Office.

David Harper can be reached at 581-8359.

Checked-by: Don Beck