Suspect in UA shooting admits to drug charges, gets 10 years
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
An Fayetteville man arrested for involvement in a drive-by shooting at a University of Arkansas fraternity house last year pleaded guilty to drug charges Tuesday.
John Chanthavong, 18, was sentenced to 20 years - 10 years in prison and 10 years suspended - on two counts of possession of a controlled substance. He admitted to possession of Ecstasy.
As part of the negotiated plea, he agreed to testify truthfully for the state in the drive-by shooting case. University police responded to a drive-by shooting at the Sigma Chi fraternity house, near the corner of Maple Street and Gregg Avenue, in the early morning hours of Nov. 3. Witnesses told police that three uninvited, unidentified people entered the house during a party and were escorted out of the fraternity house by members. A short time later, three shots were fired toward a group of people standing in the breezeway on the east side of the house along Gregg Avenue. No injuries were reported. None of the three men involved in the shooting were students at the UA.
Chanthavong was arrested in connection to the shooting but never charged in the case, said Mark Booher, 4 th Judicial District deputy prosecutor One suspect, Felipe Nevarez Ibarra, has been charged in connection with the shooting and others may be charged later, Booher said.
Ibarra, 18, was convicted on Aug. 8 by a jury on drug charges, but prosecutors have not yet tried him in the drive-by shooting case.
He was sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison and fined $ 70, 000 on four felony convictions - two counts of delivery of a controlled substance, one count of possession with intent to deliver and one count of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms.
Ibarra was found guilty of selling a total of 18 Ecstasy pills on two occasions in October and November, having three Ecstasy pills in his bedroom and having three firearms in the closet of his bedroom.
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