FORMER HOUSE CANDIDATE HEADED TO PRISON FOR DRUG CHARGE

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A pilot and former House of Delegates candidate will
spend 15 months in prison for a federal drug charge.

Hal Clay Nease III, 55, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in
Charleston after pleading guilty in May to conspiracy to distribute
cocaine. After his prison term is up, Nease must spend six months on
supervised release. He also was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

Nease was convicted of cocaine trafficking in 1986 during a massive federal
crackdown on cocaine users that also led to the arrest of former Charleston
Mayor Mike Roark.

Nease was arrested on the latest charge in January.

The former flight instructor for Yeager Airport once operated a business
that sold timeshare rights to corporate jets. In the 1990s, he promoted
production of a movie based loosely on his role in an airborne marijuana
smuggling operation during the 1970s .

His unsuccessful House of Delegates run was in 2000.