STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Christopher Bond leaves U.S. District Court in Roanoke on Friday after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

A man who worked as a Pulaski and Radford police officer would pull up to methamphetamine dealers' homes in his marked patrol car, walk into a room full of drug users while wearing his uniform and gun, then sit down and smoke dope with them, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

"I don't even know where to start," Christopher Franklin Bond, 32, said in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, where he pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute more than 50 grams of meth. "I feel like I'm a good person who got caught up in a bad situation. I started to use methamphetamine and it got out of control."

Bond, free on $10,000 bail, faces five to 40 years imprisonment under federal guidelines when he is sentenced Oct. 4.

"It's sad when we have to prosecute someone who we consider part of our family in law enforcement," Assistant U.S. Attorney Charlene Day said after Bond's hearing. "It's appalling. ... It's embarrassing."

Bond bought and sold meth from his patrol car and gave rides to dealers while on duty, Day said. He even smoked meth with dealers in his car, the prosecutor said. After smoking dope at the homes of dealers, Bond would buy meth and marijuana, Day said.

Bond worked in Radford from late 2004 until 2007, then in Pulaski until June 2009. His drug use spanned his career with both police departments, Day said. He was caught after officers raided the Max Meadows home of Kelly Ann Porter, who also pleaded guilty on Friday to drug charges, and she identified Bond as someone who bought and sold drugs with her.

Porter, 25, and John Daniel Cantrell, 25, who lived with Porter in Max Meadows, both said in federal court they conspired to distribute more than 500 grams of meth, a charge that carries a minimum 10-year sentence.

Day said Cantrell and Porter pooled money with Bond to buy meth.

Bond took issue with being characterized as a drug dealer, saying he was a user who went in with other users to buy drugs. He said he sold drugs outright three or four times.

In an exchange with U.S. District Court Judge James Turk, Bond agreed he distributed methamphetamine as defined by the law.

"I did not sell this for profit. I sold it so the person who was selling to me would use with me," Bond said.

His attorney, Everett Shockley of Dublin, said Bond pleaded guilty to avoid going before a jury and to prevent a possible additional charge of carrying a firearm while committing a drug crime. Bond's plea agreement with the government, like those of his co-defendants, says prosecutors will recommend a prison term at the lower end of whatever federal sentencing guidelines call for.

Relatives who were in the courtroom to support Bond said he has stopped using drugs. The federal probation office reported that Bond has had no problems since his arrest in June 2009 on drug-related charges in Wythe and Carroll counties.

The state charges against Bond were dropped as federal authorities took the prosecution.

Bond, who lives in Carroll County, told Turk he has been working at a call center in Galax.

Bond asked the judge if the five-year minimum sentence for his charge is firm. Turk said he could take into consideration how much cooperation Bond gives to federal investigators.

Pulaski police Chief Gary Roche, who last year called Bond's situation "very difficult" and "disappointing," said Friday he had no other comment on the case.

"We've moved on beyond that," Roche said.

Porter and Cantrell, like Bond, are scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 4.