Methamphetamine salesman sentenced to prison

MINDEN, Nev. " A 57-year-old Gardnerville man, accused of peddling methamphetamine at a bar, was sentenced Monday to five years in Nevada State Prison.

District Judge Michael Gibbons told Dennis Causing he had to serve at least two years before he would be eligible for parole on his fifth felony conviction and fourth prison term.

"I wish I heard you say something like your attorney said " you want to turn your life around," Gibbons said. "You haven't changed your ways."

Casing pleaded guilty to one count of attempted trafficking in a controlled substance. He was arrested Sept. 13, 2008, after deputies received reports he was trying to sell controlled substances at a Gardnerville bar.

Authorities found 10.5 grams of methamphetamine, and drug paraphernalia, along with several weapons in a motel room he was sharing with a man and a woman.

Charges were dropped against the two co-defendants.

Causing denied the allegations.

"That stuff was theirs," he told Gibbons. "I'm laying in my bed with my oxygen on. I am 57 years old. I learned my lesson when I was in prison the last time. I'm not out there selling drugs. I think the DAs are just a little overzealous to go after a broken down old man of 57," he said.

Attorney Kris Brown called her client "a man of contradictions."

"He has a criminal history that's a train wreck. He's an admitted methamphetamine addict," she said. "But there is a spiritual side. He is concerned about the rise of heroin use among young people. He helped friends whose kids were starting to get into it."

Gibbons gave Causing credit for 142 days in custody.

Causing was sentenced to five years in prison for trafficking in a controlled substance in May 2004.

After serving 230 days in Douglas County Jail for that offense, his prison sentence was reduced to a year before he was eligible for parole.