MORE COMMON PLEAS NEWS

And now, a few more cases from the Court of Common Pleas with the highlight of the week being guilty pleas from 8 Mexican nationals involved in a Christmas Day melee on Hannum Avenue. But first, a few other cases from Courtroom #3, presided over by Judge James MacElree...

Nicholas Frederick Custer, 24, of West Chester, pled guilty to Indecent Assault and Corrupting the Morals of a Minor after he admitted to, while 21 years old, having sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl and impregnating her. Charges of Statutory Rape were withdrawn at the District Court level. The plea agreement was reached after discussions with police and the victim's family, who, from the sounds of things, appeared to be in favor of the deal. Custer was sentenced to 3 years probation, 75 hours of community service, and was ordered to undergo a sex offenders evaluation, submit a DNA sample, and not have any unsupervised contact with minors. (CP-15-CR-0001070-2007)

Betty Jane Hall, 54, of Coatesville pled guilty to one count of Terroristic Threats relating to a domestic dispute at the Forest Manor apartments on Downingtown Pike. On December 23, 2006 at around 13:25, WCPD units responded to the report of a domestic between Hall and her boyfriend. During the incident, according to the criminal complaint filed by Sgt. Martin Deighan, the victim reported that Hall pulled a gun on him during the domestic. The victim alleged that she removed the gun from the coffee table and that she had pointed it at him, at which point he called 9-1-1. Hall admitted to police that she had a gun in her vehicle, but was not loaded at the time. The gun, a .22 caliber revolver, was recovered from Hall's vehicle. Hall was sentenced to time served to 23 months in Chester County Prison, with the balance of the sentence to be served on probation, and was ordered to attend anger mangement classes. (CP-15-CR-0000028-2007)

Lamae Elizabeth Achenbach, 27, of West Chester, pled guilty to one count of Criminal Mischief (2nd degree misdemeanor) and one count of Disorderly Conduct after an incident at the Union Court apartments. On December 23, 2006 at around 13:53, WCPD units responded to the report of a disturbance at Union Court. Upon arrival, according to the criminal complaint filed by P/O Jason O'Neill, Achenbach broke out both windows of the victim's car. A witness asked the defendant to stop, however she ran back to her apartment. Prior to breaking out the windows of the car, which belonged to the reporting party's girlfriend; Achenbach threatened to "f**k her up" when she was unable to enter the reporting party's apartment. She was sentenced to 2 years probation (with the 2nd year non-reporting pending complaince with the terms of probation) and ordered to pay $330.00 in restitution. (CP-15-CR-0000273-2007)

And finally, in the incident that was the first to be reported on this blog, the 8 subjects who were involved in the infamous Christmas Day rumble on the West Side were sentenced to probation and ordered to leave the country for their involvement in the incident.

On Christmas morning, at around 08:30, P/O A.J. McCarthy and P/O Gerry DiNunzio responded to the 300 block of Hannum Avenue for a reports of shots fired. Upon arrival, the officers checked the surrounding area and found shell casings and and bullets near the rear porch steps at 348 Hannum. When the officers attempted to enter the residence, they observed Manuel Ochoa, Rigoberto Ochoa, and Ricardo Ochoa assaulting Irineo Ochoa Mena. Once the property was secured, all eight of the male subjects were interviewed and were very uncooperative with police. The officers ultimately found a silver .22 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun in the bedroom of one of the subjects, Lucino Mena Ochoa. The weapon was found under a bed in that particular bedroom. After the recovery of the weapon, the defendants still refused to cooperate with police and all claimed to know nothing about the gun or anything else that happened, further claiming that no one had fired a gun or heard any gun shots. All defendants pled guilty on the following counts:

Irineo Ochoa Mena, 27 (CP-15-CR-0000478-2007), Pedro Mena Ochoa, 41 (CP-15-CR-0000481-2007), Genaro Veldez, 23 (CP-15-CR-0000448-2007), and Santiago Salgado Ochoa, 21 (CP-15-CR-0000446-2007), each pled guilty to Obstructing the Adminsitration of Law or Other Governmental Function and were each sentenced to 1 year probation and 100 hours of community service.

Manuel Ochoa, 19 (CP-15-CR-0000465-2007), Rigoberto Ochoa, 32 (CP-15-CR-0000456-2007), and Ricardo Ochoa, 34 (CP-15-CR-0000445-2007), each pled guilty to Simple Assault, Recklessly Endangering Another Person, and Obstruction and were each sentenced to a total of 3 years probation and ordered to perform 200 hours community service.

Lucino Mena Ochoa, 23, pled guilty to Possession of an Instrument of Crime and Obstruction and was sentenced to 2 years probation and 150 hours community service. (CP-15-CR-0000480-2007)

All eight defendants admitted they were residing in the United States illegally. As such, Judge MacElree informed them that they must not only comply with state laws while on probation but also with federal laws - including the immigration laws. He ordered them to report to both the Adult Probation Office and to INS that they were residing in the U.S. illegally and were given 7 days to be in compliance with the terms of their respective probations.

And, finally, a defendant failed to appear for his scheduled trial on drug charges and was hit with a bench warrant. William Pressley, 43, of Philadelphia, allegedly sold 20 Hydrocordone pills to undercover detectives at Fuggett Park, which is located behind the Borough Hall, on November 27, 2006 ar around 17:04. Pressley was arrested and committed to CCP on $5,000 bail when arraigned by Judge John Anthony at Devon District Court. Inexplicably, at his preliminary hearing on December 1 in front of Judge Knapp, his bail was reduced to 10 percent of $1,000 despite residing in Philadelphia and having few, if any, roots in Chester County. In any case, it's a moot point now as Judge MacElree issued a bench warrant for Pressley's arrest after he didn't appear for his trial on Wednesday. (CP-15-CR-0005046-2006)

And thus ends another summary of Common Pleas Court happenings. Next week, with the 4th of July falling in the middle of the week, is expected to be pretty slow, but I'm sure there'll be something that's blogworthy that will show up here...