Other days

100 YEARS AGO

July 2, 1923

MEMPHIS — Ernest M. Johnson, former member of the Memphis Police force, was sentenced late last night by Judge J. Ed Richards of the Shelby County Criminal Court to serve a penitentiary term of not more than two years, following his conviction of accepting a bribe. A jury deliberated only a few minutes before returning a verdict of guilty. Johnson had confessed, police declared, to holding up and extorting sums of money from couples, whom he found in automobiles parked along suburban roads late at night.

50 YEARS AGO

July 2, 1973

■ A fire, about 6 p.m. Sunday, caused about $65,000 damage to a two-story brick and frame house. … Firemen said it apparently started near the upper portion of a carport and spread to the home’s roof and attic. Two companies fought the blaze szfor about three hours and controlled the fire before it reached the main part of the house. The house, valued at $200,000, suffered extensive water damage. The house was occupied by Mrs. Suzanne Hamilton Webre. The fire was discovered when someone returned from a neighbor’s house and saw the fire.

25 YEARS AGO

July 2, 1998

■ North Little Rock police served search warrants on five suspected drug houses Wednesday … and set up undercover officers to make sales to more than 30 unsuspecting buyers in the largest street narcotics sweep in the department’s history. More than 50 officers had helped set up their operation, after five months of investigative work, by raiding the houses early in the afternoon. The department’s Special Weapons and Tactics unit, narcotics officers and Community Oriented Police officers were involved. Vans, trucks and cars sped up to the houses, and officers armed with everything from assault rifles to shotguns to handguns barreled out, catching the residents outside the houses so off-guard that they didn’t leave the porch. Officers using concussion grenades and battering rams entered the houses and rousted the remaining residents. Two people fled but were caught less than a block away.

10 YEARS AGO

July 2, 2013

FORT SMITH — A Fort Smith man was sentenced in federal court Monday to five years in prison for breaking into a local pharmacy last year and stealing a large number of OxyContin pills, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Mark Anthony Teas, 34, pleaded guilty in January to one count of burglary, a news release from the U.S. attorney stated. In addition to the prison sentence, Teas was ordered to pay $21,915 restitution, which represented the value of the stolen drugs and damage to the pharmacy, the release stated. According to court records, Teas broke into the Prince Drug Store at 1112 Towson Ave., on July 3, 2012. After taking a large amount of the drugs, he drove to Moundsville, W.Va., to sell the OxyContin.