Barbershop Cocaine earns prison sentence

Roseville, Calif.- A man who was on four separate probations has been sentenced to 13 years in state prison after pleading guilty to selling cocaine out of a Roseville barber shop.

Darin Durel Blockton, 24, was given the sentence Friday by Placer County Superior Court Judge Mark S. Curry, who revoked his probation and fined him $5,000.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Suzanne Gazzaniga said Blockton was placed on probation in Placer County in 2006 for transporting cocaine, a violation of the California Health and Safety Code.

‘While he was on probation, he continued to commit crimes in both Placer and Sacramento counties,’ Gazzaniga said.

Blockton received two additional grants of probation in Placer County and was also given probation in 2008 in Sacramento County for participating in street gang activity, Gazzaniga said.

Last year, the Roseville Police Department received a tip that Blockton, a barber, was selling drugs out of the hair-cutting shop at which he worked, she said.

He was placed under surveillance and on April 30, 2009, police observed  a drug deal take place between Blockton and a man who drove into the shop’s parking lot.

After the transaction, police followed the car and later stopped the driver, who tossed a baggie of cocaine underneath the vehicle as he got out,  Gazzaniga said. At the barber shop, Blockton was found with $1,713 in cash, she said.

Cell phone text messages between the driver and Blockton indicated that a drug deal had been arranged between the men, she said.

Gazzaniga praised the Roseville Police Department and the Placer County Probation Department for their investigation into Blockton’s activities.

‘This was a defendant who had opportunity after opportunity to rehabilitate himself and he chose to continue to endanger the health and safety of the citizens of Placer County,’ Gazzaniga said. ‘I was quite pleased that Judge Curry sentenced this defendant to 13 years in prison.’

Gazzaniga said Blockton could face additional incarceration for violation of probation in Sacramento County.