BIG STONE GAP, Va. Former Pennington Gap Police Chief William Bryan Young will serve nine years in prison for staging the burglary of a town pharmacy and conspiring to sell the haul of prescription painkillers.
U.S. District Judge James P. Jones sentenced Young, 39, of Duffield , Va.
Young had headed the town's Police Department for nearly a year when federal agents arrested him in October following a two-year investigation initially focused on other suspects.
In December, he pleaded guilty to the September burglary of a local Rite Aid and to conspiracy to distribute oxycodone, court records show.
Also pleading guilty in December to similar charges were co-defendants Kevin Andrew Young, 35, Chris Miles, 35, and Jimmy Edward Johnson, all of Duffield. They have not yet been sentenced.
Young set up the burglary by telling his police officers to quit working the evening of Sept. 27, 2012, so that he would be the only officer on duty that night and early into the next morning, court documents show.
