Threat sentence

PECOS, Texas (AP) — A 30-year-old West Texas man is headed to prison after pleading guilty to drug possession and threatening to assault a Border Patrol agent.

A U.S. Attorney's statement issued Monday says a federal judge in Pecos sentenced Jason Christopher Murrell to 1½ years in federal prison and fined him $5,000.

Murrell stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Texas 118 south of Alpine on Dec. 23, where a drug-sniffing dog detected something in his vehicle. An agent ordered Murrell from the vehicle, but Murrell refused for 45 minutes before relenting.

Prosecutors say the search disclosed a little over a half-ounce of marijuana and a pipe containing marijuana residue. They say recordings of telephone calls Murrell made while in custody caught him making threats to assault the agent who detained him and the agent's family.