Amaris Elliott-Engel / The Citizen

AUBURN -- An Auburn woman was sentenced to five years in state prison for trying to rob Nino's Pizzeria in Port Byron while she was high on drugs, a sentence that Cayuga County Judge Peter Corning said could have been lower if he wasn't constrained by state laws over minimum sentencing requirements for second-time felons.

Stacy VanTassell, 31, of 1334 Woodlawn Ave., also was sentenced to five-years post-release supervision for the felony crime of first-degree attempted robbery. She took a razor knife and tried to rob Nino's Pizzeria in Port Byron July 23.

"I know I deserve time, especially for scaring those children. I never would have done that in my right mind," VanTassell said in a tear-choked voice Cayuga County Court Thursday. VanTassell said she will be clean for a year July 23, the longest she has ever been off drugs. Her children will suffer while she is imprisoned, she said.

VanTassell's prior 1997 felony in Onondaga County for fourth-degree grand larceny also was drug-related, said Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann, who asked Corning to sentence VanTassell to the lowest possible term.

VanTassell has a "terrible drug addiction," her attorney, Kevin Taylor, said. "When she's away from that, she's (an ideal) person to have live next door."

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Citizen.