WOODBURY— Byron A. Sills,  26,  of Berlin NJ, arrested in Glassboro has been sentenced to serve eight years in state prison for possession of more than an ounce of marijuana and a handgun.

Sills pleaded guilty to possession of CDS with the intent to distribute and possession of a firearm while committing a  CDS offense.

On the recommendation of Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Staci Scheetz, Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker on April 16 sentenced Sills to five years in prison on the weapons charge and a consecutive three-year term on the drug charge.

Sills was stopped while driving in Glassboro on June 21, 2013,  after police received a report of a dog left in a closed car on an 85-degree day in the Crossings Apartments parking lot.  

The car left before police arrived, but Sills was stopped a short time later driving a vehicle matching the description received, with a dog in the car. An officer detecting a strong odor of marijuana led to a search of the vehicle and discovery of several sandwich bags containing marijuana, an unloaded .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun in the car’s console and a handgun magazine in Sills’ pants with six .380-caliber bullets in it. The marijuana weighed 51.8 grams, or 1.8 ounces.