Athol man sentenced on 14 drug, firearm charges

ATHOL — An Athol resident was sentenced Thursday to six to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to 14 drug and firearm charges in Franklin County Superior Court.

According to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, Judge Jeremy Bucci sentenced Christopher Jellison, 40, to state prison after accepting his change of plea on charges of trafficking in cocaine (18-36 grams), possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession with intent to distribute Suboxone (subsequent offense), three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior serious drug conviction, two counts of unlawful possession of a shotgun with a prior serious drug conviction, unlawful possession of ammunition with a prior serious drug conviction, three counts of improper storage of a firearm and two counts of improper storage of a firearm (shotgun).

As part of the plea agreement, the state dismissed eight other criminal charges Jellison had faced.

The prison sentence will be followed by two years of probation. The sentence was jointly recommended by Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Andrew Covington and defense attorney Michael Sheridan of the Committee for Public Counsel Services.

“A drug operation underway in Athol was successfully shut down with this case,” Covington said in a statement. “The commonwealth is thankful for the hard work the Northwestern District Anti-Crime Task Force put into this investigation, which led to Mr. Jellison being held accountable for committing serious drug and firearm offenses in our community.”

The charges stemmed from an investigation by the Anti-Crime Task Force that began in December 2022, during which investigators learned Jellison had been selling drugs from his Partridgeville Road residence for several months. The investigation culminated with Jellison’s arrest in February 2023.