STILL MORE COMMON PLEAS RECAPS

Yet more Common Pleas recaps, now that I have some time to unwind...

Charles R. Connor, 48, of Drexel Hill, pled guilty to a 2nd offense/3rd tier DUI following an accident in Westtown earlier this year. On February 1 at 18:31, Westtown-East Goshen police were dispatched to the report of an erratic operator on Street Road and Route 202. Officers spotted the vehicle on 202 at Pleasant Grove Road near the old WE-GO police station pulled off to the side. A witness reported that the vehicle struck the guardrail on the 1000 block of Wilmington Pike. The defendant's BAC came back as greater than .30. Judge William Mahon sentenced Connor to 3-to-23 months at CCP, 3 years consecutive probation, fined $500, and ordered to report to an in-patient facility upon parole (CP-15-CR-0001173-2007). Conner pled guilty to a first offense DUI in Delaware County on February 13 (CP-23-CR-0000589-2007)...

John Henry Merrick, 35, of West Chester, entered an open guilty plea to Possession of a Controlled Substance following a January 11 traffic stop on Railroad Alley where Ofc. John DiBattista and Ofc. Christopher Craig found cocaine and marijuana in his vehicle. Merrick's open plea means sentencing will be deferred until a Pre-Sentencing Investigation report is complete (CP-15-CR-0002008-2007); sentencing is scheduled for within the next three months in front of Judge Anthony Sarcione. Merrick has a PWID conviction from 1993 where he was served a 3-to-10 year state sentence after an investigation by Coatesville police (CP-15-CR-0003181-1992), a DUI charge from Delaware County after a 2001 arrest in the City of Chester (CP-23-CR-0004757-2001), and pled guilty to charges of Flight to Avoid Apprehension and Driving Under Suspension/DUI-related following a traffic stop in Coatesville and sentenced to 9 months probation and 90 days at CCP (CP-15-CR-0001640-2003)...

Efrain Silvestre-Luna, 21, of West Chester, pled guilty to DUI following a hit and run accident in the West End. On May 16 at 16:50, Ofc. William Viebahn was dispatched to the report of a hit-and-run MVA at Hannum Avenue and North Wayne Street where the defendant struck a parked vehicle and fled the scene in a green pick-up truck. Once the defendant was located, he was observed to be swaying and unstable on his feet. Silvestre-Luna was also found to be in possession of a crack pipe. His BAC was .19 at the time of the accident. He was sentenced to 95 days-to-23 months at CCP, fined $1,500, and sentenced to 1 year consecutive probation (CP-15-CR-0002741-2007). The defendant has an INS detainer lodged against him as well...

Michael Eugene Rowe, 36, of Kennett Square, pled guilty to a summary charge of Simple Trespassing per an agreememt with the court. On the evening of December 6, 2006, Sgt. Jeffrey Ditz responded to the report of a possbile burglary on the 1000 block of Hillside Drive in East Bradford. Upon further investigation, Rowe entered the residence without permission of the homeowners in order to attempt to reclaim items that were in his ex-girlfriend's possession. Rowe then made threats to the male resident of the property. Charges of Burglary, Criminal Trespassing, Terroristic Threats, and Theft were dismissed (CP-15-CR-0000145-2007)...

Joseph Torres, 19, of West Chester, pled guilty to three counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance With Intent to Deliver and one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance following two separate investigations. PSP Narcotics investigators conducted three purchases with Torres:

On August 30, 2006 at 18:30 in the parking lot of the Commerce Bank across from Exton Square Mall in West Whiteland, Torres sold 105.5 grams of cocaine for $500 to a confidential informant (CP-15-CR-0000870-2007)
September 6, 2006 in the parking lot of the McDonalds on the 1800 block of East Lincoln Highway in Caln, where Torres sold 110 grams of cocaine for $500 to a confidential informant, and
October 6, 2006 at 16:20 in the area of West Chester Road and Romansville Road in West Bradford, when Torres sold 75.5 grams of cocaine for $500 to a condfidential informant (CP-15-CR-0000872-2007).

Additionally, Torres was arrested by Ofc. A.J. McCarthy on an unrelated drug incident in West Chester. Ofc. McCarthy responded to a report of suspicious activity on the 600 block of West Chestnut Street when he observed the defendant and a second subject sitting in a vehicle smoking a marijuana joint. A search incident to arrest recovered 60.6 grams of marijuana, a marijuana blunt, and a blue pill identified as a Xanax pill (CP-15-CR-0000598-2007).

Torres was sentenced by Judge Howard F. Riley, Jr., to 4-to-23 months at CCP, 3 years probation consecutive to his parole period, ordered to perform 100 hours community service during his parole period, and ordered to pay $305 in Lima Lab fees and $1,500 restitution to the State Police and was made eligible for work release. Judge Riley admitted that he was troubled with imposing what some could consider a lenient sentence, however he was willing to give Torres an opportunity to redeem himself...

Scott Richard Shaeffer, 41, of West Chester, pled guilty to stalking and harassement charges following a series of harassing phone calls to 6 female victims over a 6 month period. Between July 18, 2006 and January 8, 2007, Shaeffer placed over 1,000 phone calls to his victims in which he had said nothing and hung up. He was arrested on January 8 while in the middle of making a similar phone call from a pay phone at a convenience store. Assistant DA Bonnie Cox-Shaw noted that the victims were substantially inconvenienced by the calls, which were repeated and back-to-back in nature. Shaeffer pled guilty to 2 counts to Stalking and 5 counts of Harassment and was sentenced to 6-to-23 months at CCP followed by 5 years probation (CP-15-CR-0000616-2007, CP-15-CR-0000617-2007, CP-15-CR-0000650 to 0000654-2007). Shaeffer originally faced 1,073 counts of Stalking and 2,623 counts of Harassment. Shaeffer also pled guilty to one count of Stalking and one count of Harassment in Delaware County following a November 28, 2005 incident in Newtown Square; he was sentenced to up to 1-to-23 months in jail and 1 year consecutive probation (CP-23-CR-0000445-2006)...

A few more recaps (including three WCU related cases) plus the Criminal Day recap from 15-1-04 will follow this weekend...