Fields pleads guilty to felony charge
Published 10:37 am Thursday, March 17, 2016
CUMBERLAND — A 82-year-old man who police say manufactured alcohol using a still while in possession of a gun pleaded guilty to illegally manufacturing alcohol on Monday.
According to Cumberland Circuit Court Online records, Frank Silvester Fields was not prosecuted on the second felony charge of illegally possessing a weapon.
Fields was sentenced to three years in jail with all suspended, court costs and one year of probation.
The two felony charges stemmed from an August incident where Fields was allegedly found operating an illegal still and manufacturing alcohol on Carriage Hill Road in Cumberland, according to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
According to ABC spokeswoman Kathleen Shaw and Cumberland Commonwealth’s Attorney Patricia Scales, the two misdemeanors Fields originally faced — illegally selling alcohol and possessing distilling apparatus without a permit — were dropped.
According to Jennifer Guild, a Virginia ABC spokeswoman, Fields was allegedly manufacturing untaxed distilled spirits at his house in Cumberland.
Twenty-six quarts of spirits were seized.