Picked up at a Michigan airport in 1978 with more than half a kilo of cocaine, this future sitcom dad gave prosecutors the names of other dealers — and traded a possible life sentence for three to seven years.
The full story
Tim Allen — then Timothy Alan Dick, aged 25 — was arrested on 2 October 1978 at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Michigan with over 650 grams of cocaine. He pleaded guilty to felony drug trafficking and, in exchange for naming other dealers, received a sentence of three to seven years rather than a possible life term. He served roughly two years and four months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, Minnesota, and was paroled on 12 June 1981. He had begun performing stand-up at Detroit's Comedy Castle in 1979, while on bail awaiting sentence.
The clues we handed out
— He served about two years and four months in a federal prison in Minnesota, and was paroled in 1981.
— He was already doing stand-up in Detroit clubs while on bail, before he was ever sentenced.
— He was 25 at the time and going by a longer surname; he later dropped the last part of it.
— The sitcom that made him famous was built around a man who was extremely confident with power tools.
— Initials: T.A.
How this case played
ALLEGEDLY* edition No. 62. Three strikes to name Tim Allen, with a free clue
unlocked after every miss.
*A blind item you can check. Every puzzle is drawn from the public record —
court records, official rulings, and moments that unfolded on live television — and the
records are linked above. Allegedly.
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