Shabazz Ray, 28, of West Chester, had his hearing continued for two weeks at the request of the Comonwealth, where it was noted that there was the potential for additional charges which reportedly include Possession of a Controlled Substance With Intent to Deliver. As it stands right now, Ray faces charges of Resisting Arrest and Disorderly Conduct; he remains in Chester County Prison in lieu of $5,000 bail (15-1-04, CR-0000243-07).
Ray's criminal history is rather extensive, with a total of nine convictions, including two stints in state prison on Possession With Intent to Deliver cases out of both West Chester and Philadelphia. Once his preliminary hearing is held, more details will be posted...
Fernando Vera Perez, 42, and Patricia Larios Rojo, 39, both of West Chester waived their respective hearings on charges of Forgery, Fraudulently Acquiring a Controled Substance, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and two Conspiracy counts. What delayed the waiver proceedings was the last minute appointment of Curt Norcini as conflict counsel for one of the defendants (P.J. Redmond represented the other defendant; I don't recall offhand who was representing which defendant). In any event, Perez (15-1-04, CR-0000128-07) and Rojo (15-1-04, CR-0000129-07) remain free on $5,000 unsecured bail...
Isreal Figueroa, 20, of Chester, appeared in court on charges of Theft by Unlawful Taking relating to an incident on July 10. After talking to victim in the matter, Figueroa entered into an agreement in which he would plead guilty to a summary charge of Disorderly Conduct upon payment of $400 restitution to his victim. His hearing was continued to October 12 (15-1-04, CR-0000224-07). Whether or not he will be able to comply with the agreement is another story.
Figueroa faces charges in Delaware County on charges of Receiving Stolen Property, Driving a Motor Vehicle Without a License, and Driving With a Suspended License relating to an incident in Eddystone on July 5. As a result of the West Chester charges, Figueroa was remanded to Delaware County Prison on $10,000 bail. His preliminary hearing on the Delaware County charges will be heard on front of Judge Gregory Mallon in Crum Lynne (Ridley Twp) District Court on August 20 (32-1-31, CR-0000239-07)...
George Samuel Ceasar, 43, of West Chester, was at the center of a paperwork fiasco regarding his most recent case in front of Judge Knapp. Ceasar was charged with Theft by Unlawful Taking, Recieving Stolen Property, Retain Theft, and Resisting Arrest. On April 13, Ceasar entered into an agreement which would've reduced all charges to a summary Retail Theft charge. He had been determined to be in compliance with the agreement and the case should've easily been withdrawn (15-1-04, CR-0000068-07). However, there was the tiny issue of the fact that Ceasar was serving one year probation relating to a Possession of a Controlled Substance at the time of the new charges.
Ceasar had pled guilty to the charge on November 29, 2006 after withdrawing from Drug Court about two months earlier. The incident in question occured on June 5, 2006 (CP-15-CR-0002954-2006). Ceasar already had two guilty pleas in Delaware County:
- On December 22, 1997, Ceasar pled guilty to one count of Recieving Stolen Property after an incident on May 12, 1997 in Upper Darby. He was sentenced to 2 years of probation (CP-23-CR-0001657-1997).
- On October 8, 2001, Ceasar was arrested for DUI by PSP/Media after a traffic stop in Edgmont Township, Delaware County. He pled guilty on March 25, 2002 and was sentenced to 23 months of "Intermediate Punishment" probation with the first three months to be spent at a rehab center (CP-23-CR-0000296-2002).
- While his license was suspended on the DUI case, Ceasar was charged with Driving With a Suspended Driver's License after a traffic stop on August 16, 2002; after being found guilty on November 15, 2002 by Judge Bruno, Ceasar appealed to Common Pleas Court, where on March 19, 2003, he pled guilty and sentenced to 90 days in Chester County Prison (15-1-01, TR-0014529-02; CP-15-SA-0006133-2002).
And yet, he was still allowed to enter into an agreement to have charges reduced, despite being on probation. Yeah, I guess I see the logic of that...
Meanwhile, two cases that were filed almost a year ago in Judge Knapp's court still linger on for reasons that almost seem to defy logic.
Gerselda Berry, 51, of West Chester, had initially appeared in front of Judge Knapp on November 3, 2006, on charges of Criminal Mischief and Disorderly Conduct relating to an incident on August 12, 2006. The case has since been continued four times, the most recent being a 60-day continuance granted yesterday (15-1-04, CR-0000324-06). That would seem to be a little excessive for a summary agreement, until you read about this next case...
Joshua William Tarsi, 25, of West Chester, appeared for a preliminary hearing on felony Criminal Mischief charges relating to an incident in which he allegedly caused nearly $7,000 damage to a vehicle. Under Pennsylvania law, Criminal Mischief is graded as a third degree felony if the damages exceed $5,000. Before we get to what happened yesterday, here's a little background on Mr. Tarsi:
- On May 28, 2004, Tarsi was cited for Speeding and Possession of Marijuana by the Newtown Township Police in Delaware County (32-2-43, CR-0000071-04; CP-23-CR-0004865-2004). He had been accepted for Delaware County's ARD program on November 29, 2004, but was removed on August 25, 2005 (most likely as a result of the next case) and on December 19, 2005 was sentenced to 30 days probation...
- On November 19, 2004, Tarsi filed a police report with WCPD. On January 25, 2005, charges of Filing a False Police Report, Unsworn Falsifiation to Authorities, and Possession of Marijuana. On June 5, 2005, Tarsi pled guilty to Filing a False Police Report/Reporting an Offense Which Did Not Occur and Recklessly Endangering Another Person and was sentenced to two years probation by Judge Ronald Nagle (15-1-04, CR-0000044-05; CP-15-CR-0001331-05).
- On May 8, 2005, Tarsi was arrested by Upper Providence (Delaware County) Police on numerous traffic offenses, Possession of Marijuana, and Disorderly Conduct. He pled guilty on October 3, 2005 and was sentenced to 13 months probation, fined $300, and ordered to forfeit $203.00 to the Commonwealth (32-2-46, CR-0000243-05; CP-23-CR-0004867-2005).
- On July 11, 2005, Tarsi was arrested by Birmingham Township Police after leading officers on a vehicle pursuit. On January 12, 2006, he pled guilty to Fleeting/Attempting to Elude Police and sentenced to 2 years probation by Judge Phyllis Streitel; those two years were to be served consecutively to the probation imposed by Judge Nagle in 2005 (15-2-06, CR-0000297-05; CP-15-CR-0004561-2005).
Back to the here and now. Tarsi's attorney, David Clark, was unable to arrive in court until shortly after 11:00, which, suffice to say that delay (and the delayed waivers) led Criminal Day proceedings to a complete halt. After an extended delay, Tarsi requested a continuance in order to get a few other things squared away. There was a few tiny problems with that request...
To begin with, there appears to be the little matter of Tarsi's prior convictions. In spite of that, the court allowed the Commonwealth and Tarsi to enter into an agreement where the felony charge would be reduced to a summary charge upon payment of restitution to the victim. Further making things worse was the fact that since Tarsi's arraignment on November 14, 2006 (and no that's not a misprint), the case had been continued six times prior to yesterday's hearing. Upon reviewing the docket sheet from the AOPC web site, it appears that the agreement was made on January 26 after the matter had been continued on December 1, 2006 (the original hearing date), December 15, 2006, and January 12. Since the agreement, the case had been continued on April 27 and June 29.
Through all this, Tarsi allegedly told Ofc. Pam McLaren, who was representing the WCPD on this case a couple of times that he wanted to leave since he claimed he was going to be late for work. He had gone so far as to indicate that he was going to leave only to remain after being threatened with a bench warrant being issued for failing to appear. When Tarsi's case was finally called, he admitted to the cour t that he in fact recently lost his job. Nice, huh?
One would think that with all of those factors into play, not to mention the victm's mere frustration about the case not being resolved in a timely manner, that Judge Knapp would end this nonsense and declare the defendant in non-compliance with the agreement (that, quite frankly, shouldn't have been agreed to at all) and waive the counts to Common Pleas Court.
In a word ... no.
Judge Knapp granted Tarsi yet another 60-day continuance over the strong and vehement objections of the Commonwealth and Ofc. McClaren. For those scoring at home, this marks the 7th continuance in this case that should have been, at a minimum, listed if not heard in Common Pleas Court by now (15-1-04, CR-0000300-06).
And one has to wonder how many more breaks Mr. Tarsi will get at the expense of the county's taxpayers if the court continues to allow him play the system...
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