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Township Man Sentenced to 22 Years In Prison For Narcotics Conviction

A 49-year-old township man was sentenced to 22 years in state prison Aug. 21 for his conviction earlier this year on drug-related charges.

Roger Covil of Coventry Lane will have to serve seven years and four months before he is eligible for parole, according to a press release on the sentencing from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.

Covil was convicted in May on one count of First Degree Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute.

State Superior Court Judge Robert B. Reed granted the prosecutors’ motion for a mandatory extended sentence. The charge of which Covil was convicted tropically carries a sentence of between 10 years and 20 years with parole eligibility from between one-third to one-half of the sentence, according to the release.

Covil was arrested on June 25, 2010 along with another couple. Authorities received information that Covil was going to receive a package containing cocaine, prompting them to set up surveillance on his street.

Police saw the package being delivered and left on Covil’s front stoop. Covil later appeared, entered his home and then left with the package.

When police approached him, according to the release, Covil dropped the package and tried to run away.

A second defendant, Chris Hardley, was also arrested, according to the release. Hardley was seen circling in a car circling the area of Covil’s home before the package was delivered, and, police said, he left the area when he saw Covil being arrested.

Hardley was arrested a short time after Covil.

Search warrants for Covil and Hardley’s homes revealed $70,863 in cash in Covil’s home and 750 grams of cocaine, a scale, $8,610 in case and a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun in Hardley’s, according to the release.

In July 2013, Hardley pled guilty to charges of First Degree Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute, Second Degree Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine and a charge of possessing a weapon with prior convictions.

Hardley was sentenced to 18 years in state prison in December 2013.

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