He'll pay price for shipping marijuana
Bill Vidonic, Times Staff

PITTSBURGH - Thomas Throckmorton tried to reassure his wife Monday afternoon as they sat in a federal courtroom, smiling at her, saying, "Don't cry. It'll be OK."
But nothing could stop the tears from flowing as U.S. District Judge Terrance McVerry sentenced Throckmorton, 61, of Economy, to more than seven years in federal prison after being convicted of having 233 pounds of marijuana shipped into Beaver County.

Throckmorton's defense attorney, Paul Boas of Pittsburgh, had begged McVerry to "impose justice with mercy," saying Throckmorton, who has health problems including diabetes, depression and heart disease, would suffer unnecessarily in prison.

"He's not going to be well," Boas said, adding that Throckmorton had been assaulted twice, once involving a head injury, while in the Allegheny County Jail as his federal court case proceeded over the past year.

Throckmorton, a former engineer within the steel industry, was the owner of Industrial Construction Enterprise in Ambridge, at the former borough building along Merchant Street.

Federal prosecutors said that on July 17, 2005, a truck registered to Throckmorton's business and driven by Robert Gailey was stopped in Missouri, and the marijuana was found inside.

Gailey testified that he was bringing the marijuana back to Beaver County on Throckmorton's behalf and that more shipments were pending.

According to court records, assistant U.S. Attorney Almon Burke said prosecutors thought there were more than 1,200 pounds of the drug involved in Throckmorton's operation.

Throckmorton's wife of 39 years, Nancy, pleaded with McVerry to be lenient on her husband. She said that as she was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, her husband was supportive, and he has also been a good father to their daughter, Julie Throckmorton-Meunier.

She showed the judge birthday and anniversary cards her husband sent her while in jail, and also showed a letter that had a drawing of a vacation he hoped the two could take.

"I would like to have time with him," Nancy Throckmorton said. "You blink your eyes, those 39 years are gone."

Throckmorton-Meunier tearfully told McVerry that her father worked three jobs when she was young, yet "he put every ounce of his attention with me."

She added that her father had a tough childhood, but that he never carried over those traits to her, saying, "He never abused me."

McVerry said that during sentencing, he had to take Throckmorton's prior criminal record into account, one in which he was convicted of simple assault after a confrontation with his brother, James, in Bell Acres in 2002.

In addition to seven years and three months in federal prison, McVerry ordered Throckmorton to five years' supervised release. He recommended Throckmorton be placed in a facility as close to Beaver County as possible, but where Throckmorton could receive the best medical care would take precedence.

Bill Vidonic can be reached online at bvidonic@timesonline.com.

What was the rest of your commentary on the thread title going to say?

i have no idea, i didnt type that in there, and the fact that theres a / in the link is baffeling me Nick, get on it, chop chop

Is seven years a lot for 223lbs of marijuana? I don't understand the issue.

It's a PHP issue with the board. There needs to be a stripslashes() added upon converting the link. However, all issues with the board I defer to Buggy.

No, it's not. If he were younger, he probably would've gotten more.

The family begging for leniency because he's a good dad and is sick.

223 pounds is an amazing amount of pot. He would have gotten 20+ years if he was younger.

Beaver county huh? sounds like a fun place to be

Unless you were counting on this guy to get you dope.

What's the story here?

If he were shipping it in to give to cancer patients, there might be a story, but he seems from the report to have simply been a major marijuana dealer.

The government could be making money off of this, now they're going to spend money to put this fellow in prison. What a shame.

are we supposed to feel sorry for this guy because he is sick? does that in any way justify him shipping in hundreds of pounds of an illegal substance? i won't get into the stupidness of said substance being illegal, but the law is still the law.

is the family trying to set a precedent for this sort of thing? if you are "this" sick, then you can get off with less of a punishment than if you are healthy.

I didn't read the whole article, but to answer your question, sickness can be a mitigating factor for the purpose of punishement. It isn't used to explain his guilt, or lack thereof, but to explain why he might be eligible for a more lenient sentence.

I think we all agree that we'd like to avoid deaths in custody if at all we can.

yes Peeps, we know you don't like druggies

heh... this guy shouldve just molested a child or raped a woman... or killed someone while drunk driving... probably wouldve gotten a lighter sentence

awwwwwwwwwww

im just trying to be like you and post articles

lock him away... it's all fun and games making thousands of dollars selling drugs... until you get caught. Get a real job and pay the bills. 7 years should give him enough time to think about it.

Can anyone explain why marijuana is illegal? I know it is, and this guy committed a crime so he's going to jail, but in the bigger picture, this stuff does much less harm than alcohol. They say it's a gateway drug, and I believe it is, but only because you have to hang around seedy characters to buy it because it is illegal. If it were legal, a person wouldn't have to go to the neighborhood hood to get it so they wouldn't be exposed to other types of illegal substances.

So, why is this stuff illegal? Is it because anyone can grow it so they can't tax it? I don't buy that because I can grow tomatoes too and not pay tax and they aren't illegal. Most people aren't going to start pot farming and the government knows this. Is it just the mindset of the stooges in congress saying "drugs 'r bad, m'kay"?

For the record, I don't smoke pot. I did for about a year in high school but I decided I didn't need any help eating and then falling asleep so I quit.

i'm not sure why it is still illegal either, and it makes no sense to me at all. besides the obvious benfits it has for chronic pain and cancer patients, the US gov't could be controlling the sale of it and taxing the shit out of it.

and legal drugs like alcohol, nicotine, and caffiene are way more addictive both physically and mentally (OH MY GOD GIVE ME MORE COFFEE!) but that does not seem to register on anyone's radar because we can't past this stupidity: