Alleged drug dealer ordered to halfway house

FARGO — Prosecutors say a man known as a career criminal should not be allowed to stay in a halfway house until his trial on charges of distributing crack cocaine, but a judge says she will give him a chance.

Anthony “Big Tony” Walker, 48, has pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges of conspiracy to distribute and distribution of controlled substances. Prosecutors said he has been in trouble with the law for the last 26 years, and has a half-dozen felony convictions.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Klein said Friday the decision between jail and a halfway house was a close call.

“So I’m giving you this opportunity. You need to make it work now if you want to stay out of jail,” Klein told Walker.

U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said afterward that he disagreed with Klein’s decision, and talked about a recent case in which a flight attendant charged with starting a fire on an airplane walked away from a Fargo halfway house.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re right all the time,” Wrigley said. “Every case has to be looked at on its own merit.”

Defense attorney Robert Manley said Walker is not a danger to the community and wants to get a job as a chef. Klein said Walker must get a job and have no contact with witnesses in the case.

Prosecutors initially objected to the decision to allow Walker to have contact with his girlfriend and her 12-year-old child. Klein said she would allow contact with the woman unless she becomes a witness or defendant in the case.

“It remains to be seen how he can be helpful to a 12-year-old kid,” Wrigley said.

Manley said Walker is a flight risk because he has no vehicle and no money.

“As far as an assessment of danger, it just isn’t there,” Walker said, referring to a court report.

Walker is one of four people facing charges in the conspiracy, and several others are considered “people of interest,” Wrigley said. He said authorities have dealt more in recent years with methamphetamine than crack cocaine, but he wants to stop crack from being reintroduced in the area.

“Sometimes a new drug is an old drug,” Wrigley said.

Tags: halfway house, crime, drugs, walker