FORMER OFFICER GETS 10 YEARS IN PRISON

Witherspoon Pleads Guilty in Drug Case

A former Texarkana, Ark., patrol officer was sentenced Tuesday to 10
years in an Arkansas prison after pleading guilty to selling drugs.

Jimmy Witherspoon, 32, of Hope, Ark., gave his guilty plea shortly
before noon Tuesday to Judge Jim Hudson in Miller County District
Court. Hudson then sentenced him to the minimum 10-year confinement in
the Arkansas Department of Corrections for delivery of a controlled
substance.

It was not immediately known how much of the 10 years Witherspoon must
serve before he is eligible for parole. Miller County prosecutor
Carlton Jones said Witherspoon's sentence for the Class Y felony could
be cut considerably by accumulating "good time" and by completing the
prison system's boot camp program. "I know he has applied for the boot
camp program, which could be completed in three to four months," Jones
said.

The officer was suspended without pay on Feb. 7, when police were made
aware of an off-duy incident in which he allegedly sold a controlled
substance believed to be cocaine. He was arrested, booked, charged and
terminated from the force on Feb. 12 for the incident.

Witherspoon joined TAPD in October 1999 and was honored as Officer of
the Quarter in 2001 for helping to catch a habitual auto thief who was
preying on the elderly in north Texarkana.