Following a long sentencing hearing in White County Court on Thursday, 41 year old Earl Scott Roark of Carmi will spend the next seven years in Illinois Department of Corrections custody according to States Attorney Denton Aud.
Roark was arrested by Carmi Police on July 15, 2016 and entered open pleas of guilty on charges of possession of methamphetamine and driving on a suspended license in White County Court on August 24th. As part of that plea agreement, charges of violating an order of protection and possession of a controlled substance were dropped and a maximum of three years in prison was guaranteed if Roark was able to successfully complete a long term drug treatment program.
In late September, Roark was dismissed from treatment, but did not report to the White County Jail as ordered. Grayville Police arrested Roark on December 1st in Edwards County after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Judge T. Scott Webb sentenced Roark to seven years in prison on the methamphetamine charge with one year of mandatory supervised release following incarceration, and five years on the revoked license charge, also with one year of supervised release. Due to Roark’s past criminal history, the extended terms were put into place, and the Court recommended that Roark receive drug treatment while in custody. The two sentences will run concurrently.
Aud said of the sentence, “Mr. Roark sadly squandered a great rare opportunity to complete treatment and receive a shorter prison sentence for his efforts which would have hopefully had Roark pointed in the right direction while also ultimately saving Illinois taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in incarceration costs in a corrections system that is said to be overcrowded with inmates while our State continues to operate in fiscal disarray; instead, Roark’s actions mean that he will now appropriately under the law and circumstances be serving an extended term of imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections. I would like to commend the Carmi Police Department for their continued terrific professional work, as well as the continued great professional work by the Grayville Police Department who was responsible for apprehending Mr. Roark.”
