Staff reports

A Spring Valley man sentenced in 2008 to serve 20 years in federal prison for drug dealing will be released this spring, after he became one of 330 people across the country whose prison terms were commuted by President Barack Obama on his last full day in office.

John McCallum's original sentence was handed down in January 2008, after he was convicted of possessing and selling crack cocaine in and around Spring Valley from 2004 to 2005. He was 26 years old at the time he was given 240 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said evidence presented at trial showed that McCallum and a second man, who cooperated with the investigation, sold hundreds of grams of crack cocaine. In May 2005 Ramapo detectives seized more than 10 ounces of crack during a raid on a Cherry Lane house in Airmont where McCallum was living, authorities said.

He was arrested seven months later in Pennsylvania.

McCallum's sentence was commuted by the president, the White House said; he will now be eligible for release May 19.

Neil Eggleston, counsel to the president, said in a post on WhiteHouse.gov that Obama granted commutation to 1,715 people, including 568 people who had been sentenced to life in prison — most of them serving what he called "unduly long sentences for drug crimes."

"With today’s action, the President has granted more commutations than any president in this nation’s history and has surpassed the number of commutations granted by the past 13 presidents combined," he wrote. "The President set out to reinvigorate clemency, and he has done just that."