AUBURN -- A drug-dealing defendant said in his pre-sentencing investigation interview that he had been asleep at home when his codefendant traveled to Philadelphia to buy drugs and he had only entered a guilty plea to protect his codefendant.
But that directly contradicted Olvin Ventura's guilty plea April 5 to accompanying Miguel Caban and a cooperating police witness to buy $18,000 worth of cocaine in Philadelphia and hiding 18 ounces of it in the wheel well of a car until Auburn Police Department narcotics officers seized it June 6, 2006.
Justice Thomas VanStrydonck -- the Administrative Judge of the Seventh Judicial District who has been filling in for Cayuga County Surrogate Judge Mark Fandrich -- asked Ventura's attorney, Louis Dettor, to reaffirm with Ventura what was the truth.
The second time Ventura, 26, of 69 Oak Creek Townhomes, Auburn, came into Cayuga County Court Tuesday, Dettor said Ventura had been misunderstood in the pre-sentencing interview because an interpreter was not present. A Spanish interpreter was present during Ventura's sentencing.
"The story that was told and pleaded to across the street is in fact the way things happened," Dettor said.
VanStrydonck sentenced Ventura to five years in prison and five years post-release supervision for the Class A felony of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He also recommended Ventura for a state Department of Correctional Services' drug treatment program.
"This is about as big of a drug dealer our little city has had in a decade," Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann said. Ventura worked for Caban and contributed a few thousand dollars to purchase the cocaine, he said.
Caban, 45, with a last known address of 78 Orchard St., previously was sentenced to eight years in state prison and three years post-release supervision for the Class A felony of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Codefendant Mary Stotler, 27, of 78 Orchard St., Auburn, has been sentenced to three years probation for the misdemeanor of fifth-degree conspiracy.
For the complete story, read Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.
Justice Thomas VanStrydonck -- the Administrative Judge of the Seventh Judicial District who has been filling in for Cayuga County Surrogate Judge Mark Fandrich -- asked Ventura's attorney, Louis Dettor, to reaffirm with Ventura what was the truth.
The second time Ventura, 26, of 69 Oak Creek Townhomes, Auburn, came into Cayuga County Court Tuesday, Dettor said Ventura had been misunderstood in the pre-sentencing interview because an interpreter was not present. A Spanish interpreter was present during Ventura's sentencing.
"The story that was told and pleaded to across the street is in fact the way things happened," Dettor said.
VanStrydonck sentenced Ventura to five years in prison and five years post-release supervision for the Class A felony of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He also recommended Ventura for a state Department of Correctional Services' drug treatment program.
"This is about as big of a drug dealer our little city has had in a decade," Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann said. Ventura worked for Caban and contributed a few thousand dollars to purchase the cocaine, he said.
Caban, 45, with a last known address of 78 Orchard St., previously was sentenced to eight years in state prison and three years post-release supervision for the Class A felony of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Codefendant Mary Stotler, 27, of 78 Orchard St., Auburn, has been sentenced to three years probation for the misdemeanor of fifth-degree conspiracy.
For the complete story, read Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.
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