Former Goochland County Public Schools employee Glenn Worrell was sentenced on July 22 to three months in jail, all time suspended for five years.

Last May, Worrell, who was an HVAC technician for the schools, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, a class five felony.

Worrell was arrested Sept. 4, 2008, after the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) found marijuana in a common room of his home as well as in other locations on the property. 

DEA agents based the search on a warrant targeting an individual known to frequent Worrell’s residence.

According to evidence presented to the court in May, Worrell arrived home while agents were conducting their search.

Worrell told agents that he had bought a pound of marijuana every three months for the past five years.  He said that although the majority of this marijuana was for personal use, he had also been selling the drug to five regular clients.

“There’s a difference between pushing [marijuana] on the street and someone who provides some to customers,” said Defense Attorney Todd Stone at the sentencing hearing.

In a telephone interview after the hearing, Stone said that Worrell was “providing” the marijuana, “not peddling it.”

According to the minutes of the Goochland County School Board’s meeting on June 23, Glenn Worrell’s submitted resignation was accepted and became effective June 24.

Worrell, a regular participant in the Virginia Sprint Series, was frequently invited to Goochland classrooms and school functions to discuss his experiences as a race car driver.

Stone said that despite the fact that marijuana was found in a common room of her house, Isabella Worrell, Glenn Worrell’s wife and the assistant principal at Powhatan Elementary School, did not know that marijuana was present in their home and was unaware her husband was selling marijuana.

Mrs. Worrell declined to comment directly.

In May, Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Beasley said authorities did not believe Mrs. Worrell was connected to her husband’s activities.

Worrell apologized for the “embarrassment, pain and stress” the arrest caused his family and the community.

“[Getting arrested] was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said before being sentenced. Otherwise, he said, “I would have never faced my addiction.” 

Worrell will be on unsupervised probation for the next five years.

Michael Copley is a staff writer with Powhatan Today.

Goochland Gazette editor Amy Condra contributed to this report.