AUBURN -- A 21-year-old Sterling man was contrite as he was sentenced to four to 12 years in state prison for a spree of burglaries in northern Cayuga County.

"I am very remorseful," Ernest Ostrom, of 14647 Center Road, said. "I never plan on breaking the law again."

Ostrom was sentenced in Cayuga County Court Thursday for four felonies of third-degree burglary. He received four separate sentences of two to six years, and Judge Thomas Leone ordered that two sets of the sentences run one after the other. Ostrom originally faced 16 felonies.

Ostrom helped burglarize a West Bay Road, Fair Haven, residence between 1 to 7 p.m. May 31, 2006; Bay Breeze Miniature Golf in Fair Haven overnight between June 1 and June 2, 2006; the Springbrook Greens golf course in Sterling overnight between June 1 and June 2, 2006; and another residence in Sterling.

Several codefendants were previously sentenced.

Ostrom and his codefendants created a "loss of security in those houses and damage done to the businesses and a cost for the entire system," Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann said.

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