newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A former van driver on Fort Wainwright accused of illegally selling hundreds of prescription pills to soldiers on base withdrew his guilty plea Thursday.

Clifton A. Gaines, 44, of North Pole, was charged with seven counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance last year and would have served between five and eight years in prison under a plea agreement with prosecutors.

However, shortly before sentencing prosecutors uncovered two previous felony convictions Gaines had in Florida, which would have put his sentence between 15 and 20 years in prison.

Army Criminal Investigation Command became suspicious that Gaines was dealing drugs from the YMCA free ride shuttle he drove around base last August, and an undercover investigator rode the van later that month asking to buy pills of oxycodone, a common pain reliever for cancer patients.

Gaines sold the investigator about a dozen pills and told him to contact him again if he wanted to purchase more, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.

As the investigation continued, authorities allegedly discovered more than 300 pills of oxycodone, Vicodin, methadone and lorazepam, a potentially addictive tranquilizer, in Gaines’ personal vehicle. Text messages requesting drugs also were found on his mobile phone.

Superior Court Judge Mark I. Wood has set a trial date of Nov. 3.