Oft-arrested drug dealer sentenced to 7 1/2 years

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A Yakima drug dealer who was arrested five times last year was sentenced Wednesday to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Terry William Smith, 49, received a mid-range sentence after pleading guilty in Yakima County Superior Court to a charge of delivering heroin and five counts of possession with intent to deliver.

Deputy prosecutor Josh Camp said Smith's longest previous stint in prison was five years despite having an extremely lengthy criminal record centered around drugs.

"I think it's a good hit," he said of the plea deal. "It gets him off the street for a while."

Court records detail the following arrests, all in 2011:

* May 4 -- Smith is arrested after an informant buys heroin at his home in the 1200 block of East Adams Street. Smith forfeited $2,176 in his possession at the time.

* June 28 -- Police stop Smith, who was wanted on possession warrant, as he drove in the 1100 block of East Adams Street. They find $1,728 in his wallet. In his car, they find a zippered pouch containing a half-pound of heroin, 5 grams of meth, an unspecified amount of cocaine and 24 various pills, including Percocet and methadone.

* Aug. 29 -- In another traffic stop on Nob Hill Boulevard near the West Valley Wal-Mart, police find in Smith's car a plastic baggie containing 14.5 grams of meth and a pill bottle with a half-gram of black tar heroin.

* Sept. 2 -- Police stop Smith driving on North First Street and find $1,348 cash on him, plus heroin, meth and an unspecified number of prescription pills in his wife's purse, which he had asked her to hide. Also seized was a digital scale.

* Dec. 5 -- A member of Yakima Police Depart-ment's gang enforcement unit arrests Smith on a warrant and find two baggies containing 41.7 grams of heroin and $808 in his pockets. Records didn't indicate where that incident took place.