Jan. 26, 2010

TOPEKA MAN GETS 10 YEARS ON FEDERAL DRUG CHARGE

TOPEKA, KAN. – Deneco Maurice Scales, 25, Topeka, Kan., has been sentenced to 120 months in federal prison on a crack cocaine charge, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today.

Scales pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a playground. He was arrested Feb. 3, 2009, when police found him in a car parked within 1,000 feet of Central Park in Topeka. He was carrying 19 individually wrapped packages of crack cocaine.

The Topeka Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Task Force investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Hough prosecuted.