Lewis Norman Cochran, a 55-year-old Lunenburg resident of 4387 Ontario Road, Keysville, was sentenced to five years in prison with all suspended except 45 days in jail recently in Lunenburg Circuit Court upon pleading guilty to one felony count of distribution of marijuana. The  suspended portion of his sentence will be subject to numerous conditions.

According to Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Clement, the local narcotics task force, under the direction of Lunenburg County Deputy Sheriff Adam Martin, worked an undercover operation on March 19, 2014, and purchased $200 worth of marijuana from Cochran. The task force waited until  other operations at that time were completed over a period of a year and until other issues could be resolved before he was indicted on Feb. 2.  He was arrested in October.

The active sentence is within the recommendation of sentencing guidelines  with a range of one day to three months, said Clement, even though Cochran had a prior conviction in Nottoway County in 1984 for distribution of marijuana.

Cochran’s additional four years and 10 1/2 months are suspended upon conditions of good behavior, supervised probation upon his release for one year, warrantless searches and seizures, counseling and restitution of $300.