Judge tweaks sentence of cocaine trafficker

YOUNGSTOWN -- A Mahoning County judge modified the sentence of a woman convicted of drug trafficking at the former McDonough's Lounge on South Avenue.
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of common pleas court held a hearing Thursday for Mary Catherine McDonough, 50, formerly of Palmer Avenue, who was sentenced to a total of three years in prison March 5, 2003. She had requested judicial release, formerly known as shock probation.
She pleaded guilty in August 2002 to cocaine trafficking, preparing drugs for sale, illegally manufacturing drugs, cocaine possession and illegal possession of a weapon.
Authorities said McDonough and her other family members family were responsible for a substantial amount of cocaine trafficking from their former South Avenue bar.
Judge Sweeney modified McDonough's sentence to allow her to be released from prison and sent to Community Corrections Association's facility on Market Street, where she is to complete a substance abuse program.
After she successfully completes that program, which will take between four and six months, she will be put on probation for two years. She had served two years of her three-year sentence.