Carbon County court — drug cases
A Cambria County man pleaded guilty to a drug-dealing charge on Monday in Carbon County court and was immediately sentenced to a state prison term.
He was one of four defendants in pending drug-related cases to enter a guilty plea before Judge Joseph J. Matika.
I-80 stop
Daricus Marcel Holliday, 34, of Johnstown, pleaded to one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, heroin, and a false identification charge.
Holliday was arrested on Aug. 17, 2016, along Interstate 80 in Kidder Township by state police at Fern Ridge following a vehicle stop.
Holliday is currently an inmate in the state correctional institution at Camp Hill, Cumberland County, serving a 3½- to 7-year term imposed in Cambria County on a drug charge.
Holliday told the court, “I’m not a bad person. I’m ready to take my punishment.”
Matika went along with a plea bargain made with the district attorney’s office, and sentenced him to serve one to four years in a state prison, concurrent with the Cambria County term. Holliday told Matika he has served 16 months of that sentence to date.
Matika also ordered him to get a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendation for treatment, zero tolerance for drug or alcohol use, supply a DNA sample, and when paroled render 100 hours of community service. On the false ID count Matika imposed a fine of $100.
Weatherly incident
Elio Angel Osorio-Soto, 21, of Hazleton, pleaded to one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, heroin.
Soto was arrested by Weatherly police on Sept. 9 following a traffic stop at Carbon and First streets. Soto was a rear-seat passenger in the vehicle where heroin was found.
Matika told Soto under state sentencing guidelines he faces a minimum of between three and 12 months in prison at the time of sentencing.
Sentencing was deferred to January 2019.
Other pleas
Shawn Michael Murphy, 39, currently an inmate in the county prison, pleaded to one count of criminal use of a communication facility.
He was arrested on May 30 by Lansford police after he sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant in a parking lot of the Panther Valley football stadium. The sale was arranged by cellphone.
Sentencing was deferred.
Joseph T. Gindhart Jr., 32, of Summit Hill, pleaded to one count each of possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was arrested on Aug. 18 by Lansford police in the 400 block of East Ridge Street. A charge of possession of a prohibited offensive weapon (a folding pocket knife) was dropped in a plea bargain.
Matika placed him on probation for a year on each count, running concurrently, and ordered he get both drug and alcohol and mental health evaluations, pay court costs of about $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on probation and render 50 hours of community service.
Whitney Marie Hibbler, 29, of Lehighton, pleaded to one count of possession of drug paraphernalia with a charge of false ID dropped in a plea bargain.
She was arrested on Oct. 8 by Lansford police in the 300 block of West Abbott Street. Police responded to a report of a suspicious woman in the area and found Hibbler with drug paraphernalia on her.
Hibbler is currently an inmate in the county prison on a probation violation charge and is awaiting resentencing.
Matika placed her on probation for a year and ordered her to get a drug and alcohol evaluation, zero tolerance for drug or alcohol use, pay court costs of about $1,000, pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on probation and render 50 hours of community service when paroled.
