Mark Dean Garrison Sentenced for Transporting Marijuana

A Denison man has been sentenced to just less than four years in federal prison for transporting marijuana with the intent to sell the drug.

Mark Dean Garrison was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings Friday morning to one count of possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms of marijuana, following his December 2012 guilty plea.

The 48-year-old Garrison was stopped on Interstate 20 near Abilene for a traffic violation in late October 2012. After Garrison consented to a search of the truck, a state trooper opened the inside of a spool of barbed wire which they were carrying and smelled marijuana.

The spools of wire contained 229 bricks of marijuana, weighing approximately 112 kilograms.

Garrison and the passenger in the vehicle, 22-year-old Brian Julian Gallardo, were both arrested and have been in custody since that time.

Gallardo has pleaded guilty to the same offense, and will be sentenced on March 29^th. He faces no less than five or more than 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Williams.