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By JANIE SLAVEN Record Staff Writer WHITLEY CITY � Boyd Roberts left McCreary County Courthouse Monday, Jan. 23, under his own free will. Better known as �Can Man� because of his recycling business, Roberts appeared before Circuit Judge Paul Braden Monday afternoon for formal sentencing on one count of first-degree Trafficking in a Controlled Substance. The 53-year-old Pine Knot man pled guilty to the charge last November, on the same day he was indicted. The plea bargain called for a 10-year sentence, which would then be probated for five years. Both Braden and Commonwealth Attorney Allen Trimble acknowledged they had received letters from citizens concerned about the plea agreement, which the judge accepted after some discussion regarding problems with the investigation. The case stemmed from an October raid on Roberts� home off Roundtop Road. McCreary County Deputy Sheriff Joe Horne and Constable Milford Creekmore II witnessed Roberts sell one-half of an OxyContin tablet to a confidential informant. Horne entered the residence and after a brief standoff, Roberts gave permission for a search which garnered some $76,000 in case in addition to weapons and various drugs. �The problem is that neither the Kentucky Constitution nor the United States Constitution allow for entry into a residence without a warrant�,� Trimble said. Judge Braden then noted that probable cause (witnessing the sale) would have been sufficient to get a warrant, but it wasn�t enough to enter the home without a warrant. Trimble told the court that the officers presented their case in an up-front manner and were in agreement about the plea bargain. �It�s a problem that we knew about early on; that�s how we resolved it,� he said. Ron Reynolds, Roberts� attorney, noted that the compromise was preferable to either side risking a loss. He added that his client had been married for several years and ran a successful �can business.� Judge Braden focused more on Roberts� pre-sentence investigation report. Based on community reaction, the judge said that he had expected a list of prior arrests. That this was Roberts� first arrest surprised Braden. �I expect, Mr. Roberts, that you will be living in a fish bowl�The community is concerned about drugs,� the judge warned, adding that he would not hesitate to re-instate the 10-year sentence should Roberts violate the terms of his probation. As part of the plea agreement, Roberts forfeited $50,000 to the McCreary County Sheriff�s Office and $5,000 to the Commonwealth Attorney�s Office. Reader Comments Parent (2/16/2006) Why do the young kids who get out and steal money to buy drugs have to spend time in jail. When the people that sell them do not. Lv. (2/16/2006) Mccreary is the place to live if you want to sell drugs and make a lot of money. Concern (2/16/2006) This is the way that it will continue for the people of McCreary Co. Life is hard when there our no jobs for different age groups in the county that people choses to live in. Nothing for our young children to do. But just a hand full of citizen's of the county cannot turn it all around when there is so many people fighting against you. I just hope that people of McCreary Co. open their eyes for the future of out children. Just think, today children our the one who will be overseeing our future. Just in great hope's that they will do a better job than the one's running it today. concerned (2/16/2006) I believe there should be an investigation in the laws of McCreary Co.because surely we are making them up as we go.There is no way the handling of drug dealer, "The Can Man" could have been law as we know it. TOO BAD (2/14/2006) I THINK THAT EVERY DRUG DEALER SHOULD BE PUT A WAY I THINK THE CRIMES SHOULD BE MORE HARSH THAN WHAT THEY ARE INSTEAD OF A PAT ON THE BACK AND A SLAP ON THE WRIST IN MICHIGAN IF YOU GET COUGHT WITH ANY THING EVEN MARIJUANA IT IS LIKE THEY WANT TO GIVE THE PERSON A LIFE TIME SENTENCE REGUARDLESS OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHO YOU KNOW YOU WILLL GO DOWN.I HOPE THEY CLEAN MCCREARY COUNTY UP SOON IT IS AN AWEFUL PLACE AND IS NO WAY THAT I WOULD RAISE MY CHILD THERE WHEN I WAS SMALL IT WAS NICE NOW THAT I AM OLDER AND HAVE A CHILD OF MY OWN I WOULD NOT CONSIDER OF RAISING A CHILD THERE I DONT KNOW OF ANY DESCENT PLACES THERE TELL ME ARE THERE A DESCENT PLACE MY OPINION IN ORDER TO STOP THE CRIME YOU HAVE TO GET THE DEALERS OFF THE STREET SO GIVE THEM SEVERAL YEARS LIKE 5 YEARS PER JOINT 15 YRS PER BAG 20 YEARS FOR METH NO PEROLE THAT WOULD STOP IT DONT YOU THINK BUT THE ONLY THING THE COURT WOULD NOT MAKE AS MUCH MONEY SO NO WE CANT DO THAT WE CANT MAKE OURE STATE A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE BECAUSE THE COURT DOES NOT CARE ALL THEY SEE ARE$$$$$$$$$$$$ no angel (2/13/2006) responding to hmmm. The law states during a consent to search any time the owner of the residence tells you to stop or you can not look in a particular spot, you then stop immediatly and obtain a search warrant. Hmmmmm (2/12/2025) The officers seen the crimes committed??? Why didnt one officer secure the scene while the other secured a search warrant? I understand that the "Can Man", gave the officers permission too search his residence, the problem with this is .... the search has too be halted whenever the person giving consent says so. I think their is also a term called "the elephant clause" which can prevent the officers from searching in area's of the household. In the future, maybe the officers will secure a scene, and secure a proper warrant before doing any searching. a dealers child (2/10/2026) i am the child of a well known dealer in this county. i think that it is time for ALL dealers even my dad to have to pay for what they are doing. I am a mother and i would kill someone even my dad for selling to my child think about it what if he was the one to sell your child what killed then would you want to kill him too VOTER (2/9/2026) WHY WAS'T THE FED'S CALLED IN ON THE MUCH MONEY.WHEN YOU WIN THE LOTTERY THEY GET THERE CUT. I THINK IF WE ALL STAND TO GETHER WE CAN GET THE ONES OUT OF THE SYSTEM,SO IT WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE TO BRING OUR KID'S AND GRANDKIDS UP IN. drug dealer (2/8/2026) mccreary county sounds like my kind of place can seller (2/8/2026) i will not sell any more cans to the can man i think he should have got what was comming to him how many kids in the county have commited sucide becouse of him selling them drugs i have no use at all for anyone who sells our kids drugs Crazy It all bull's down to (2/6/2026) I thank it is crazy they let this man go, when other people get put in prison for the same crime. This county is getting worse as the days go on. Now if that was me that did this crime i would be put away for it. It all bulls down to money. (2/4/2026) they gave him probation because they know he isn't gonna quit and they will get him again, after he builds himself back-up. then he will get prison plus all the money seized. they know he's the big dogg in the county so they are gonna let him make them rich. yep, i figured it all out. (2/4/2026) the paper tries to make everything sound so good. joe horne was already in can-mans house, he snuck in through a window. can mans wife saw him and screamed...can man ran in and saw him and pointed a loaded 22 in his face. i guess you could say it was a stand off but after they were already in the house. joe horne is lucky, if it'd been anyone else he'd got blown away. thats how dumb our "law enforcement" is. after can man gave in that's when the drug task was called in and the search warrent was issued. that's also why he got probabtion so easy, it was an illegal search to begin with. ---this is'nt hearsay...i know, i had a front row ticket and got to see it all.--- CountryGirl (2/2/2026) To Barber; I totally agree with you. I can not believe the can man got off. He should have been put in prison. The law enf in our county sucks!!!! Thats why more people take the law in their own hands. We have a alot of folks here in our county that are alot more knowledged then them pretending to be ( the law enf., court house, lawyers, detectives ect.. )We need to do away with all the old and put NEW People in our law system. For years and to date, murders happening and they dont have a clue as to what needs to be done. We need to start voting smarter and not harder !!!!!!!!! concerned citizen (2/1/2026) we had a highly qualified sheriff before this one what did we have ,but he did have driver lisc. and he never wreck 5 cars so i guess that was better concerned citizen (2/1/2026) it seens like 80% of the drug dealers live in pine knot any way MCcreary county citizen (2/1/2026) even though Boyd Roberts will not serve time, I hope the money will help the county in future arrests and will help advance are police department and maybe one day eliminate the drug problem in the county Remeber (2/1/2026) The next time the Legalization of Alcohol comes across the ballad, maybe the good people of McCreary will remember this case. Until you bring taxes into the county and have the funds for a real police dept. this type of result will continue Barber (1/30/2006) What this case boils down to is illiterate LEO. I'm surprised that the can man had to relinquish any money after such a botched case. He deserves time in prison without a doubt but this kind of action will continue until this county gets qualified LEO. Even if he didn't have a large sum of money at his residence he would have got off with a good lawyer. Lets hope some day McCreary County will catch up with other countys in adjacent states and give the people the kind of protection they DESERVE !!! As long as no one runs for the Sheriff w/o being highly qualified in this field with the right mindset also, McCreay County residents are doomed for another four years if the truth hurts......... (1/29/2006) 55,000 thousand dollars is all it takes to sell pills in mccreary co. huh?... April (1/27/2006) I agree, the law enforcement we have now is just a joke, academy trained or not! apparently they lack common sense!! I think Scott Duncan would be a great Sheriff. confused (1/27/2006) judge Braden must to have been asleep that day to probate a man who has sold drugs to enough kids to make 60thousand dollars out of all them drugs that were sold how many were sold to kids who commited suceide Do It Right the First Time (1/26/2006) In response to "Who is Kidding Who", according to the US Constitution which supercedes KY law, citizens have a right to be protected from unlawful search and seizure. You can not enter a residence unless there are exigent circumstances which there were not. It is my understanding that the "brief standoff" was due to the officers going into the house, not in uniform, with guns drawn. If someone came into my house without annoncing, not in uniform, then I would point a gun at them also. The Sheriff's Dept. got one heck of a deal through the court considering they violated this guy's constitutional rights. The bottom line is they should have got a search warrant, then they could have kept all of the money and this guy would be going to jail. I don't live in McCreary County so I can't vote, but it is time to get a seasoned, professional law enforcement officer in office as sheriff who will supervise his deputies so this does not continue to happen. Robert Stephens (1/25/2006) if you got the green you real walk and. if you don"t you will go to jail thats McCreary county.. its all about the green stuff Fed-Up (1/25/2006) Our biggest problem is that we don't have anyone to argue for the people. Everyone in this case made defense arguments, just for political cover. Granted, a criminal sale of half a pill doesn't make a high level bust. But possession of large quantities of cash should put the burden on the criminal to show it was legally obtained rather than a quick deal to keep some of it. Much weaker cases than this have been approved by other courts...and other prosecutors. Who is kidding who?? (1/25/2006) If this guy had a standoff with the officers,then they had every right to enter the house to make sure that there wasn't anybody else in the home that could've been armed.The reason the "Can man" got off the hook is because the court received 50,000 from him and the county attorney received an easy,5,000 from him.The can man sure can't make this kind of money by just selling cans could he? If so,I am in the wrong type of business,maybe I should start selling cans.Am I right or am I wrong,if an Officer has proable cause to search a home,if he suspects something that may be dangerous,he doesn't have to have a search warrant does he?? The Whole Truth (1/24/2006) "Horne entered the residence and after a brief standoff, Roberts gave permission for a search". This is the problem, he entered the house and after a brief standoff, was given permission to search. This could hardly be considered a voluntary search based on the un-invited entrance into his residence by the Deputy. No Court would recognize this to be a voluntary search. One more reason to have trained and supervised officers doing highly technical sophisticated drug investigations. Even though Horne is a trained officer, evidently he decided to circumvent the legal requirements of obtaining a search warrant, or written voluntary permission to enter a residence for the purpose of obtaining incriminating evidence. Truth (1/24/2006) Can you believe that Judge Braden has a challenger? Slick (1/24/2006) This doesn't suprize anyone that lives in this county. If you have money it gets you anywhere. But we all have to remember that Elections are coming and it is up to all the people in McCreary county to make them pay. For what they have done to this county. Puzzled (1/24/2006) What kind of court system does this County have???? Is ky.law so different than the rest of U.S.A.??? This sounds like pure insanity!!!!!!! Money Talks,especially in McCreary (1/24/2006) You guys ought to know that by now,you got money,you can get by with anything.And Kentucky law is if a person agrees to a search then the cops don't have to have a warrant to search,he allowed the search,hello!! DidImisreadtheirlameexcuse (1/24/2006) "Roberts gave permission for a search" Clearly, this trumps any warrant problem. Damage Control Part 1 (1/24/2006) Don't kid yourself, it's ALL about the money. stpnwolf (1/24/2006) Money talks, BS walks. wondering (1/24/2006) I have always wondered why do some get away while others ROT in jail. I guess what is being said is true it depends on HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE!! If he gets busted again, and find 5000.00 instead of a bigger sum will there be enough money to go around for the ones that helped him get off then? I dont think so, but if theres alot of money then sure they will accept it and go on like nothing ever happened. Add a Comment |
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