Harmon sentenced to 25 years

Marlon Harmon was sentenced last Wednesday by Judge Krystian Earles to 25 years at hard labor, after an Acadia parish jury found him guilty in May of distribution of cocaine.

The conviction, which was Harmon’s fifth for felonies, also forms the basis of a Habitual Offender Bill of Information that was filed Wednesday against Harmon. This now starts the process by which Judge Earles will be asked to sentence Harmon in the future to a sentence ranging from 30 years to life in prison.

Harmon was convicted in the 1991 burglary of Worthmore’s 5&10 in Rayne, and the burglary of a vehicle owned by a Rayne resident. He was also convicted after a 1996 arrest for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and another arrest for possession with intent to distribute cocaine from 1997.

Frederick “Fritz” Welter, felony prosecutor in the Crowley office of the district attorney, said that the sentence sends a clear message. “Drug dealers are not going to be able to sell drugs to the young people of Acadia parish without thinking hard about this 25 year sentence. It will hopefully act as a deterrent and help our local law enforcement agencies as they try to rid our parish of these drug dealers.”

Rayne Police Chief Carroll Stelly noted that Harmon had been one of the area’s biggest drug dealers, and that taking him off the streets makes it a better place for the law abiding citizens. “We are aggressively going after these drug dealers, and we are making it very uncomfortable for them to do their dealing here. This type of sentence will help us achieve our goals for this type of crime,” said Stelly.