PENSACOLA, Florida (WALA.com)
– A jury didn’t take too long to convict an 87-year-old woman on drug
charges. Ola Mae Agee is facing more than a year behind bars just five
months after being accused of selling cocaine out of her Pensacola home.
Agee was working from home. The problem is, authorities said she was in
the business of selling drugs. Officials said she was caught on tape
selling crack to an undercover investigator.
“The evidence, we believe, was overwhelming, particularly the video evidence was overwhelming of her guilt,” Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said.
Marcille said it took a jury less than 15 minutes to find her guilty. Agee was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
“She’s too old to be in jail. I don’t think she should have got 18 months, that’s like a life sentence for her,” Neadie Rich said.
Rich knows the suspect and believes the sentence is too harsh.
“Being a senior citizen myself and knowing how hard it is to get all
this medication being prescribed for us, and how hard it is to live off
of what we get, social security what we worked years for. I feel like
Ms. Agee was at that age that people did not have social security taken
out like it should. She probably was doing what thought she could to
survive,” added Rich.
However, Marcille said with a past like hers, Agee was treated fairly.
“In this particular case, she had been charged twice in the past with
the exact same charge for selling or possessing cocaine. She also had
extensive other prior criminal history for other offenses that went back
a couple of years. Based on the fact that she had continued to sell
drugs over this period of time, we believe the prison sentence was
appropriate in this case,” Marcille said.
Deputies said Agee continued to commit the crime and will now pay for it, with time.
Officials said under Florida law, Agee will probably serve 85 percent of
her sentence. That means she’ll serve about 14 or 15 months.
