A Vermilion County man has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in state prison for violating the terms of his probation from a previous drug case.

Judge Matt Fitton imposed the sentence on Kenneth L. Armstrong, 44, whose last known address was in Potomac, during a May 25 hearing in Ford County Circuit Court.

In January, Armstrong pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver — charges that stemmed from his arrest in August 2020 — and was sentenced to 180 days in the Ford County Jail and placed on three years of probation.

A petition to revoke his probation was filed the following month alleging Armstrong committed new offenses within weeks of being released from the jail. At a March 15 hearing, Ford County State’s Attorney Andrew Killian successfully proved the violations of the probation order, and the case was set for a May 3 sentencing hearing.

However, Armstrong’s public defender, David Rumley, then left his position as a Ford County public defender to become the public defender in Logan County. As a result, the sentencing hearing was pushed back to May 25 so that Ford County Public Defender Harvey Welch could appear with Armstrong.

In seeking a sentence of six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, Killian noted Armstrong’s failure to comply with prior sentencing orders, his violations occurring within weeks of his release from jail, and the need to deter others from distributing methamphetamine.