TEEN GETS 26 YEARS FOR SCHOOL DRUG SALE

MOULTON - A Lawrence County High School student pleaded guilty Monday to
selling drugs at school and received sentences totaling 26 years in prison.

Webster Alexander, 19, of 2161 Lawrence County 180, Moulton, received the
jail time for six drug charges, including four for distributing controlled
substances at the school.

Lawrence County District Attorney Jim Osborn said the sentences were stiff,
but justified.

"Distribution of a controlled substance is a serious offense any time, but
it is especially serious when it's on school property," he said.

The other two charges were for first-degree possession of marijuana and
possession of paraphernalia.

Lawrence County Circuit Judge Philip Reich sentenced Alexander to 13 years
on each distribution charge. He gave him three years for the act of selling
on campus, five years for selling drugs within three miles of a school and
five years for selling within three miles of a housing project.

Reich ordered Alexander to serve two of the distribution sentences
consecutively. He will serve the other two at the same time he serves the
first two. Reich also sentenced Alexander to five years on the marijuana
charge and six months on the paraphernalia charge.

Alexander applied for probation and is free on bond pending a probation
hearing.

Authorities arrested Alexander at his home April 9, 2002, after an
undercover agent with the Lawrence County Drug Task Force identified him as
one of the students selling drugs at school. The agent posed as a student
for six weeks and made several drug buys.

An hour after authorities arrested Alexander, they arrested Cordine Bush,
19, in the school's cafeteria and charged him with two counts of selling to
the undercover officer.

Authorities made a simultaneous raid at the home of Rodney Hicks, 18, of
1460 Lawrence County 180, and charged him with one count of sale to the
undercover officer, first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of
paraphernalia.

Bush's case is pending. The next plea docket is in March. Hicks received
youthful offender status.