A man caught dealing methamphetamine near a school bus stop in Oak Harbor was sent to prison Monday.
As part of a plea bargain, Nolan Brown, 48, pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court Dec. 11 to one count of possession of meth with intent to distribute and one count of possession of heroin.
The charges came with a “school zone enhancement” that added two years to the sentence and which doesn’t qualify for “good time” in prison, according to Deputy Prosecutor Chris Anderson. Nolan’s home was across the street from a school bus stop.
Two counts for unlawful possession of a firearm were dismissed.
In court Monday, both the prosecutor and defense attorney recommended a sentence of six years and three months in prison, which was part of the terms of the plea bargain. Judge Alan Hancock agreed and imposed the sentence.
Detectives with the Island County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant on Brown’s Southeast Oleary Street home in November 2014. They found Brown sleeping inside a car parked in the driveway, according to the police report.
A young woman was also arrested on an unrelated warrant.
Deputies who served the search warrant found a plastic bag with a golfball-sized amount of suspected meth in the car, according to the police report.
The 33.93 grams of meth was worth about $2,700 at the time, according to the sheriff’s office.
The deputies also seized suspected heroin, $300 in cash and a glass pipe, the report states.
Detectives found a locked, 400-pound floor safe.
When the deputies asked Brown for the combination, he said he didn’t own it, according to court documents.
The safe was taken to another location and opened. Inside the deputies found documents with Brown’s name on them, as well as a loaded Taurus .38-caliber revolver and a stainless Walther PPK .380-caliber pistol with a loaded magazine in it, Wallace wrote.
Prior to this case, Brown had three felony drug-related convictions, court documents indicate. He was the owner and operator of O&J Sales on Goldie Road when it was raided by deputies in 2009.
Investigators found more than 94 grams of meth and arrested Brown, according to court documents.
The health department closed down the dealership because tests showed extreme levels of meth contamination in an office building and in cars.
The clean-up cost thousands of dollars.
