Legal Snag Lets Sparta Drug Dealer Off the Hook

SPARTA– A young man arrested in February for selling MDMA, or “ecstasy,” to undercover police in Sparta has encountered a unique legal hiccup that allows him to accept lesser charges.

As it turns out, the substance that 22 -year-old Noble Williams III allegedly sold to an undercover member of the Livingston County Drug Task Force in June 2013 was not ecstasy but Methylone, a look-alike drug that is indistinguishable from ecstasy unless it is thoroughly tested in a lab. In a bizzare twist, four months after the sale occurred, Methylone was outlawed and became a controlled substance in New York State.

“It is a complicated legal situation,” said Assistant Livingston County DA Victor Rowcliffe. “Methylone was not a controlled substance at the time of the sale, but it was at the time of the arrest.”

As it stands, Williams is currently charged with misdemeanor “attempted sale of a controlled substance” instead of more serious “criminal sale of a controlled substance” or “criminal possession of controlled substance with intent to sell.”

Williams has accepted a plea offer from DA Greg McCaffrey’s Office for one year in Livingston County Jail. If he is sentenced for his current charges, he will have to pay about $300 in court fees, and return the $80 that the undercover officer paid for the imitation drug, by July 2016.

Photo Courtesy of LCSO