GREENVILLE – If you do the crime, you will serve the time.

Alton Larchon Whitaker, 31, of Aulander was sentenced here last week to 141 months in federal prison stemming from his arrest on drug charges in April of last year.

In addition to the 141 months behind bars, Chief U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan ruled that Whitaker must serve five years of supervised probation following his release from prison.

There was no fine attached to Judge Flanagan’s ruling, which came during a session of Federal District Court.

“We were pleased with Judge Flanagan’s ruling on this case,” Bertie Sheriff Greg Atkins said. “Mr. Whitaker was a repeat offender and had served time for those previous offenses, but when you can hand a case like this one off to the federal level, the time behind bars becomes lengthier in nature. That type of sentence will hopefully serve as a deterrent for other individuals who are considering a life of crime by dealing drugs.”

The federal grand jury indictments against Whitaker, ones which Judge Flanagan used in her sentencing procedure, included one count of Whitaker knowingly and intentionally possess with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine base (crack) and one count of knowingly and intentionally possess with intent to distribute more than five grams of cocaine base (crack).

According to Detective Sgt. Frank Timberlake with the Bertie Sheriff’s Narcotics Division, Whitaker had four prior convictions for felony drug offenses. Three of those convictions came in Northampton County (1992, 1997, 2002) and one in Bertie County in 2004. Whitaker’s arrest record also includes a 2003 conviction in Northampton County for carrying a concealed weapon as well as a 2004 case in Bertie County where he was charged with assault on a government official.

“He was supplying a large amount of cocaine in the Aulander area as well as Northampton County,” Timberlake said. “He also has shown a violent past by assaulting law enforcement officers. If he demonstrates that type of behavior against a member of the law enforcement community, just think what he may do against an innocent member of the public. We’re glad to get him off the street.”

On April 5, 2006, Whitaker was arrested in his Aulander home at 405 Chestnut Street. There, Aulander and Windsor police officers joined Narcotics Division detectives as well as two, drug-sniffing dogs in discovering over two ounces of marijuana plus a quantity of crack cocaine.

Whitaker was initially charged with three felonies n two counts of possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and one count of possession with intent to sell and deliver crack cocaine. He was taken to the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail under a $150,000 secured bond.