By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A 60-year-old Montevallo man will spend the next year in prison after he pleaded guilty to illegally distributing prescription drugs in Alabaster in 2012.

Wade Garner, who lists an address on Shelby County 203 in Montevallo, pleaded guilty to one felony count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance during a Feb. 8 hearing in front of Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves.

Through a plea agreement with prosecutors, two of the three unlawful distribution of a controlled substance charges against Garner were dismissed.

As a result of his guilty plea, Garner will spend the next year in the Alabama Penitentiary, followed by two years of supervised probation. Garner has five previous adult felony convictions on his record, according to court documents, but his sentence was shorter than normal for the crime “because the defendant has received an honorable discharge from the United States armed forces.”

While on probation, Garner must take and pass random drug and alcohol tests, and must surrender his driver’s license for suspension.

According to his indictments, Garner distributed controlled substances from an Exxon gas station parking lot on U.S. 31 in Alabaster on the following occasions:

-Clonazepam on April 25, 2012

-Hydrocodone on April 27, 2012

-Clonazepam on May 24, 2012

Garner previously pleaded guilty to multiple unlawful distribution of a controlled substance charges in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994.