By Carl Keith Greene/Staff Writer
Roy Lacy Cobb, 56, of Keavy, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being tried on charges that he exchanged oxycontin for sexual favors.
U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove imposed the sentence in federal court in London Wednesday.
The sentencing came following a February trial in which he was found guilty on 10 counts.
Eight of the counts involved providing drugs for persons over 21 years of age and the other two involved providing drugs to persons under 21 years old.
Van Tatenhove ordered incarceration of 20 years on the counts involving those over 21 and 25 years on the counts involving those under 21. The two sentences will run concurrently. Cobb will be required to be under supervised release for six years when his sentence is served.
The sentencing process lasted more than two hours with several objections to points in the pre-sentencing report.
It all began with Cobb asking for a new attorney, rather than the one provided by the court.
After a discussion at the bench among Van Tatenhove, Cobb and his lawyer, lasting about 15 minutes, Cobb agreed to keep his lawyer Derek Gordon.
Van Tatenhove told Cobb that he has the right to a lawyer appointed by the court, “but not the lawyer of your choice.”
He told Cobb that sentencing is not the time to bring up issues seeking a new lawyer. “You have full appeal rights as to the work of your lawyer,” he added.
As Cobb spoke again to the judge, he said the jury wasn’t properly informed as to the number of oxycontin tablets he had for the women to whom he distributed them.
Van Tatenhove stopped Cobb and told him it was the judge’s job to “determine appropriate application of the law. That’s what I do! You may appeal after I decide and impose sentence.”
Prior to imposing the sentence, Van Tatenhove allowed Cobb’s daughter, Christina, to speak to the court.
Under oath, she said she had been threatened if she testified for her father. She admitted that she had been addicted to drugs and was on her 67th day of being clean. Christina said that “all the girls,” to whom her father distributed oxycodone were friends of hers.
“I beg you to give him some leniency. He’s why I’m clean today. He is my rock. I feel that I let my father down.”
Another daughter, Mary, had testified against Cobb at trial but was not present at the sentencing.
“This is one of the heartbreaking moments, when your daughter testifies against you,” Cobb said just before his sentence was imposed.
Mary, who was charged in the armed robbery with another person of the Rite-Aid pharmacy in Carnaby Square, admitted in a June 13, 2008 interview about her role in the robbery, that she had been using oxycodone for about nine months.
She said she had gotten the drugs from her father.
She added that her father got his oxycodone from a physician in Tennessee and gave the tablets to women in Laurel County in return for sexual favors.
A week after that, two women interviewed by Laurel sheriff’s deputies revealed that he had exchanged oxycodone for sexual activity with them.
Local News
Cobb gets 25 years in sex for drugs trial
- Local News
-
-
Police search for suspect in highway beating
It was called by some as “road rage,” but Barbourville Police say last Saturday evening’s fight at a city intersection was definitely an assault. And they are still looking for the man who police say threw the first punch.
-
Woman gets five years for drugs
In U.S. Federal Court Wednesday, Heather A. Collins, who was called by Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove as a “kind of leader for the group,” was sentenced to five years after using prescription forms to acquire various drugs.
-
Father, son rearraigned for meth charges
A son and father were rearraigned Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in London.
-
Hounds hold on
Corbin Coach Rob Ledington rolled the dice after his Redhounds took a 6-0 lead, but it paid off with an 8-7 win over Whitley County as Corbin advanced to the 50th District Championship tonight with an ace up their sleeve.
-
Drugs suspected in fatal Knox County crash
Drug use may have been a factor in a crash Monday in Knox County in which an 11-year-old boy was killed, according to Kentucky State Police Post-10 Harlan Public Affairs Officer Trooper Shane Jacobs and Sgt. Jimmy Young.
-
Marie Rader wins 89th Rep. District Primary
Republican Marie Rader won the primary election for the 89th District House of Representatives.
-
Barton wins another circuit court clerk term
Whitley County voters went with experience when it came to electing the next circuit court clerk, choosing incumbent Gary Barton, according to unofficial election results.
-
Bunch victor in 82nd House District
For incumbent State Representative Regina Petrey Bunch, the votes came in bunches Tuesday night.
-
Voter turnout higher than expected
The election day ran fairly smooth in Whitley, with the exception of several precincts losing power briefly and a few complaints regarding signs being too close to polling places.
-
Kenneth S. Stepp to face Hal Rogers in fall
Two Democrats, Kenneth S. Stepp, of Clay County, and Micheal Ackerman, of Rowan County, running for the Fifth Congressional District ran a heads-together race in the 30-county district.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Police search for suspect in highway beating




