Guilty plea and sentence in drugs distribution cases in Alpena court
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ALPENA -- Donald Grooms, 40, pleaded guilty on Monday in Alpena's 26th Circuit Court to possession and delivery of methamphetamine.
Grooms and two other people had about 100 grams of the drug -- or about 400 doses -- in a vehicle when police stopped them during a flurry of meth-related arrests in early January.
The plea came days before a jury trial for Grooms, scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Grooms pleaded guilty as charged, with no promise of a reduced sentence. Judge Ed Black told attorneys he intended to sentence Grooms to seven years in prison, according to Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski.
Grooms is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on Oct. 4.
Co-defendants Lacey Roskey and Justin Shipp, arrested with Grooms, pleaded guilty to drug charges earlier this year.
Also in court on Monday, Black sentenced Joshua Carr to six years in prison, with credit for 222 days served. In July, a jury found Carr guilty of possession and attempted delivery of meth.
Police arrested Carr in January after he returned from a trip to the Pontiac area after a tip from an admitted drug distributor that Carr was transporting drugs. Police arrested Carr after they found him in the back seat of a vehicle, along with a scale used by drug dealers and surrounded by crushed meth crystals scattered on the floor, according to police.
The Huron Undercover Narcotics Team arrested at least 11 people on meth-related delivery charges in the first weeks of January.