Published: Monday, January 24, 2011, 9:00 AM

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/01/greene_county_man_gets_10_year.html

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge last week ratified a 10-year prison sentence that prosecutors worked out with a Greene County man who admitted involvement in a drug ring that sold large amounts of cocaine and marijuana throughout Alabama.

Benjamin Knox, 76, of Eutaw, was indicted in 2005 along with his two sons and others, but then spent about five years undergoing psychiatric evaluations and treatment to determine whether he was competent to stand trial. He will get credit for that time while serving his prison term.

“I ask God to forgive me,” the defendant told Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. “I believe he has. I ask the court to forgive me for whatever wrong I’ve done.”

Knox admitted to selling 315 kilograms of cocaine and 280 pounds of marijuana, and laundering some $619,000 in drug proceeds through his tow truck business on Schillinger Road in Mobile.

A grand jury indicted Knox and four others after an investigation

The prosecution of Knox stemmed from an investigation dating to 2002 by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service.