COLUMBUS (AP) – A Columbus man who vowed he was penniless and couldn’t pay a fine in a drug case now faces a big one after deputies escorting him from court found he had over $4,000 in his clothes.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Lawrence Knox swore he was indigent during an Oct. 5 hearing after pleading guilty to a drug charge in Franklin County court.
Deputies taking him to be processed for his six-year prison sentence then found he had $4,060 on him.
When the judge learned that, he gave Knox, 36, the maximum fine of $20,000, plus court costs.
About half the discovered cash was ordered to go to Knox’s attorney, Michael Hayes, who’d been shorted on his fees. The rest was applied toward the fine.