CAPE MAN FOUND SELLING CRACK IN HOTEL GETS PRISON

A 30-year-old Cape Girardeau man will go to federal prison for 7 1/2 years for selling crack cocaine, an assistant U.S. attorney said.

Darrell Lamont Boyd had been staying at the Town House Inn on Oct. 5 last year when police received an anonymous tip that Boyd was selling drugs, said Larry Ferrell, assistant U.S. attorney. Police got the tip at about 1 a.m. but didn't go to Boyd's room until 6:55 a.m.

Boyd answered the door and allowed two officers to enter. On a night stand next to a bed police found a bag containing 5.9 grams of crack, a digital scale and $435.

Boyd told police he had bought a quarter ounce of crack a day earlier and sold a portion, Ferrell said.

Another Cape Girardeau man pleaded guilty in federal court to illegal firearm possession.

John Lee DeBerry, 41, admitted he had fired a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol into the air last July 4. However, because DeBerry was previously convicted for drug possession in 1997, he could not possess a firearm, Ferrell said.