Other defendants to serve time for drug charges, rape.
A 50-year-old Dover man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for weapons charges. Deputy Attorney General Greg Babowal secured the sentence against Jeffrey Crippen, after securing a conviction during a bench trial in November. Shortly before his arrest, Crippen was released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking cocaine and related charges. Crippen was suspected of drug dealing, leading to his arrest in 2015, where police found a loaded pistol in his home. He was convicted of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited and Possession of Ammunition by a Person Prohibited, and sentenced by Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clark to 10 years in prison, followed by 6 months in a halfway house, then 2 years of probation.
Deputy Attorney General Greg Babowal secured a guilty plea and prison sentences for Jermaine Harmon, 43, of Harrington. In July 2016, members of the Dover Police Drug Unit began surveillance of illegal drug sales from an apartment in the 200 block of West Loockerman Street in Dover. Officers observed Harmon selling drugs from the balcony, and a search of the apartment found more than 85 bags of heroin. Harmon pled guilty to one count of Drug Dealing (Tier 4 Heroin), and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge William Witham, Jr. to 3 years in prison in the Key Program. Once Harmon completes Key, the remainder of his sentence will be suspended for 1 year of probation.
Deputy Attorney General Phillip Casale secured a guilty plea and prison sentence for 25-year-old Najee Rogers of Wilmington. In May 2016, Wilmington Police officers saw Rogers involved in a hand to hand drug transaction. A search of Rogers’s car turned up 15.48 grams of heroin, 10.5 grams of marijuana, 41.76 grams of crack cocaine, a loaded handgun, and $2,149 cash. Rogers pled guilty to Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony and Drug Dealing Tier 2. Rogers was immediately sentenced by Superior Court Judge Richard Cooch to 3 years in prison, followed by probation.
A 36-year-old man from Dresden, Maine was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl in a Delaware motel in 2015. Deputy Attorney General John Donahue secured the sentence for James Allen’s conviction of three counts of Rape Third Degree and one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Child. In February 2015, Allen was arrested when State Troopers went to the Comfort Inn in Georgetown and found a girl who had been reported as a runaway. Allen said the two met on social media and agreed to meet in Delaware. Superior Court Judge Richard Stokes sentenced Allen to 18 years in prison, including the successful completion of the Transitions Sex Offender Program, followed by 6 months of work release then 9 years of probation. Allen must also register as a Tier 3 sex offender, have no contact with the victim and other minors except supervised contact with his biological son, and have no access to internet.