Drugs, guns and sex offenses tried in Accomack Circuit Court

By Linda Cicoira

A Melfa Man admitted Thursday in Accomack Circuit Court to selling cocaine in 2019 from a house on Daugherty Road.

Thirty-eight-year-old Deidrion Shamar Kelley, of Melfa, was initially indicted on two counts of manufacturing a Schedule I or II drug. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charges in a bargaining agreement with Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney William Fox.

Fox recommended that Kelley be given a 10-year suspended sentence for one charge and 30 years with all but three years and nine months suspended for the other. Judge W. Revell Lewis III ordered a short-form presentence report. Sentencing was set for April 27.

Sentencing was set for the same date in the case of 31-year-old Ceonta Jamar Kellam, of Parksley, a felon, who pleaded guilty to Jan. 1 counts of possessing a firearm and DUI. The pleas came in a bargaining agreement with the recommendation that Kellam be sentenced to five years for the weapon charge with all but mandatory time suspended and 33 days with 30 days suspended for DUI. A total of $1,500 in fines was also included with $1,000 anticipated to be suspended. Lewis ordered a presentence report. Charges of reckless driving and refusal to take a breathalyzer test were not prosecuted.

 Thirty-six-year-old James Edward Harmonson, of Parksley, was arraigned on charges of failing to register as a Tier III sex offender in June and August of 2021 and in February and May of 2022. He asked for a jury trial and one was scheduled for Aug. 22.