Jim Rosica
A former lobbyist pleaded no contest on Thursday to a charge that he ran a drug house out of his Tallahassee home, according to Leon County court dockets.
A judge withheld adjudication for Ben G. Parks, 62, meaning no formal finding of guilt. He was sentenced to time served of one day in jail and ordered to pay $520 in court costs and fines.
Other charges related to illegal drug possession were referred to the county’s confidential drug court for disposition, records show.
Parks’ latest known number is disconnected; his lawyer, Ryan Davis of Tallahassee, declined to comment beyond what was in the docket Thursday.
Parks, the former long-time lobbyist for the Florida Farm Bureau, was arrested in late February with seven others after neighbors complained that as many as nine people appearing to be living in his five-bedroom Ox Bottom house.
Ox Bottom is a well-to-do section of the capital city, north of Interstate 10.
While searching Parks’ home, police found various drugs and paraphernalia and described it as “a communal living setting.”
A neighbor previously told FloridaPolitics.com that Parks was allowing recently released jail and prison inmates to stay at the home.
Parks, a graduate of the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, did not register to lobby during the 2016 Legislative Session, according to state records. He also previously represented Florida Crystals Corp.
