Published: August 07, 2009 12:06 am      

Not guilty pleas entered to drug possession at school campus

A Greenville man, convicted a decade ago and sentenced to prison for two armed robberies, has pleaded not guilty to two drug possession charges.

Gary Desmond Allen was one of two people indicted in April for the possession of drugs on the campus of a local school district.

Allen, 30, Greenville and Christy Antoinette Miles of Dallas, each received one indictment or delivery of between one-fourth ounce and five pounds of marijuana and for the manufacture/possession of between four and 200 ounces of a controlled substance, namely Phencyclidine (PCP), both in a Drug Free Zone. Allen and Miles were alleged to have possessed the substances while within 1,000 feet of Boles Home on the Boles Independent School District campus on Feb. 6. Miles was also indicted on one count of unlawful possession of a weapon in a Drug Free Zone for having a pistol in her car at the same time.

Allen was arraigned on the drug charges Thursday during a hearing in the 196th District Court. Judge Joe Leonard set an interim hearing for Sept. 8.

Miles has previously pleaded not guilty to her charges and has a trial pending.

Allen was indicted in March 1999 on three charges of aggravated robbery, in connection with three reported armed hold-ups of Greenville businesses during the early part of that year. One of the indictments was later dismissed, but Allen was found guilty by a jury in October 1999 of the two other robberies, at the Town and Country and World Bazaar stores and was sentenced by the jury to seven years in prison, with a $500 fine in each case.

The charge involving PCP is typically punishable upon conviction by a maximum sentence of from five to 99 years to life in prison and an optional fine of up to $10,000. The marijuana possession charge is punishable by a maximum sentence upon conviction of from two to 10 years in prison, also with the optional fine.

Because both of the offenses were reported to have occurred within a Drug Free Zone, prosecutors can seek to enhance the potential sentences Allen and Miles are facing if convicted.