A Jefferson man was recently sentenced to prison for an incident involving drugs that occurred in Perry over the summer.

According to court documents, 34-year-old Royce Gonnelly pled guilty to a Class D Felony of possession of a controlled substance, 3rd offense and was sentenced to prison for a period not to exceed five years. The charges stemmed from an incident on August 8th at Pattee Park in Perry, where law enforcement made contact with Gonnelly shortly after midnight because his vehicle was parked in an area that was closed due to a city ordinance at the time.

The criminal complaint shows that Gonnelly told a Perry Police Officer that he didn’t have a driver’s license because he was barred from driving, and the officer noticed a glass smoking device in the front passenger seat and conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle. Following the search, several drug-related items were recovered, including marijuana and pills.

In addition to the sentencing, Gonnelly was also ordered  to pay victim restitution of $1,025 and a surcharge of $90. As per the plea agreement, the additional charges of an aggravated misdemeanor of driving while barred, a serious misdemeanor for unlawful possession of prescription drugs, and a simple misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia have been dismissed. The five year sentence will run consecutively to four Greene County cases due to being on probation.