The first of three men who admitted breaking into a couple of businesses together – including a Buffalo scrap metal company where $50,000 was taken – was sentenced Friday to one to three years in prison.
Troy Jones, 19, of Reo Avenue, Cheektowaga, had faced a sentence of up to 29 years for his two attempted-burglary convictions, as well as his criminal possession of stolen property and weapons counts.
Jones pleaded guilty in connection with the break-ins March 24 at Clinton Auto Wrecking at 1125 Clinton St. and Metalico Buffalo at 127 Fillmore Ave.
Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk noted Brown had a clean record until this year.
“2013 was a bad year,” Franczyk told him. “You went off the deep end.”
The judge granted him youthful offender status sealing his criminal record.
“But I can’t turn a blind eye to the crimes you committed in a relatively short period of time,” he told him during the sentencing hearing.
Two Buffalo men – Dakota Williams, 18, of East Delavan Avenue, and Lloyd Flood, 19, of Stewart Avenue – have also pleaded guilty to charges for their roles in the break-ins.
Williams pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree grand larceny and two counts of third-degree burglary. He admitted he took more than $50,000 from the safe during the Metalico break-in, prosecutors said. About $10,000 was recovered when police arrested him in April.
Williams was released on bail and arrested later with three juveniles on charges stemming from a June 28 burglary at the Corner Store at 1733 Genesee St.
He pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary in that case.
State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia is scheduled to sentence Williams on Jan. 3 for the three break-ins.
Flood has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree burglary in the Metalico and Clinton Auto break-ins. He also will be sentenced Jan. 3 by Buscaglia.
At Jones’ sentencing hearing, defense lawyer Francis C. Amendola told the judge that his client had led a trouble-free life until this year.
Jones is trying to turn his life around and is working on getting a general equivalency diploma, Amendola said.
Amendola asked the judge to grant him youthful offender status.
Jones was arrested three times in two months. The first arrest came on Jan. 18 when he tried to discard a loaded revolver while running from police on Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga. He was released on $250 bail in Cheektowaga Town Court.
Jones was arrested again on Feb. 25 at his Cheektowaga home, where police found power tools and spools of copper worth $3,000 that had been stolen from Harlan Electric Co. in Buffalo. He was again released on $250 bail in Cheektowaga Town Court.
When he was arrested on April 16 in the Buffalo break-ins, he was arraigned in City Court and ordered held on higher bail.
Jones cooperated with authorities, Assistant District Attorney John Feroletto said. Franczyk cited Jones’ cooperation and his previously clean record in fashioning the sentence.
email: jstaas@buffnews.com
Troy Jones, 19, of Reo Avenue, Cheektowaga, had faced a sentence of up to 29 years for his two attempted-burglary convictions, as well as his criminal possession of stolen property and weapons counts.
Jones pleaded guilty in connection with the break-ins March 24 at Clinton Auto Wrecking at 1125 Clinton St. and Metalico Buffalo at 127 Fillmore Ave.
Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk noted Brown had a clean record until this year.
“2013 was a bad year,” Franczyk told him. “You went off the deep end.”
The judge granted him youthful offender status sealing his criminal record.
“But I can’t turn a blind eye to the crimes you committed in a relatively short period of time,” he told him during the sentencing hearing.
Two Buffalo men – Dakota Williams, 18, of East Delavan Avenue, and Lloyd Flood, 19, of Stewart Avenue – have also pleaded guilty to charges for their roles in the break-ins.
Williams pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree grand larceny and two counts of third-degree burglary. He admitted he took more than $50,000 from the safe during the Metalico break-in, prosecutors said. About $10,000 was recovered when police arrested him in April.
Williams was released on bail and arrested later with three juveniles on charges stemming from a June 28 burglary at the Corner Store at 1733 Genesee St.
He pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary in that case.
State Supreme Court Justice Russell P. Buscaglia is scheduled to sentence Williams on Jan. 3 for the three break-ins.
Flood has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree burglary in the Metalico and Clinton Auto break-ins. He also will be sentenced Jan. 3 by Buscaglia.
At Jones’ sentencing hearing, defense lawyer Francis C. Amendola told the judge that his client had led a trouble-free life until this year.
Jones is trying to turn his life around and is working on getting a general equivalency diploma, Amendola said.
Amendola asked the judge to grant him youthful offender status.
Jones was arrested three times in two months. The first arrest came on Jan. 18 when he tried to discard a loaded revolver while running from police on Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga. He was released on $250 bail in Cheektowaga Town Court.
Jones was arrested again on Feb. 25 at his Cheektowaga home, where police found power tools and spools of copper worth $3,000 that had been stolen from Harlan Electric Co. in Buffalo. He was again released on $250 bail in Cheektowaga Town Court.
When he was arrested on April 16 in the Buffalo break-ins, he was arraigned in City Court and ordered held on higher bail.
Jones cooperated with authorities, Assistant District Attorney John Feroletto said. Franczyk cited Jones’ cooperation and his previously clean record in fashioning the sentence.
email: jstaas@buffnews.com