Ga. man who served time for kidnapping gets 5 years in drug case

<p>A Georgia man sent to prison in the 1960s for kidnapping an Emory University student who survived being buried alive is going back to prison for a cocaine conviction in coastal Alabama.</p><p>Gary Stephen Krist, 61, of Auburn, Ga., was sentenced Thursday in Mobile by Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade to five years and five months in prison for conspiracy to bring cocaine and illegal aliens into the United States.</p><p>His sentence was 22 months less than the minimum called for under advisory sentencing guidelines. Granade accepted prosecutors' recommendation that she reward Krist's assistance in the case.</p><p>Federal agents had been monitoring Krist for weeks by the time he sailed his 40-foot charter sailboat into Point Clear, near Mobile, on March 6. Agents had placed a monitoring device on the vessel after he leased it in January 2006 and traced it to Colombia.</p><p>When Krist arrived, authorities found 38.6 pounds of cocaine inside a cooler on the rear deck and four illegal immigrants hiding in the cabin below. Authorities estimated the drugs had a retail street value of $1 million.</p><p>Krist's stepson, Henry Greeson, who was waiting on the dock to unload the drugs, also was arrested. Greeson also has pleaded guilty to drug charges and faces sentencing later this month.</p><p>Krist admitted getting the cocaine and also accepting money and the promise of later payment to smuggle four South Americans into the United States.</p><p>"I'd like to apologize to my wife and grandkids and my kids, and to anyone else I might have hurt. That's all," Krist said at sentencing.</p><p>Krist was convicted in 1969 of kidnapping an Emory University student for a $500,000 ransom and burying her alive in a ventilated box. She survived the ordeal, but Krist got a life sentence.</p><p>In 1979, Krist won parole and later got a full pardon. Then he earned a medical degree but lost his license in 2002 when Indiana authorities discovered he had lied about being reprimanded during a residency in West Virginia, according to news reports.</p><p>"Gary has made mistakes in his life. He's made huge mistakes," defense attorney Jan Jones told Granade. "I believe he is hugely and tremendously remorseful and deeply saddened by the stupidity of his actions."</p><p>Jones said her client had a "tortured" youth that included his parents twice abandoning him at an orphanage. In an interview, she said Krist decided to sell cocaine in hopes of re-starting his medical career.</p>