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3rd Valley sibling is sentenced on series of charges
YOUNGSTOWN
The last of three siblings indicted in a burglary and drug trafficking case has been convicted.
Judge Thomas P. Curran found Jennifer V. Kozic, 34, of East Calla Road, New Middletown, guilty of one count each of burglary, receiving stolen property and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, and two counts of OxyContin trafficking after she pleaded guilty to those offenses on Friday.
The visiting Mahoning County Common Pleas judge released her from county jail on her own recognizance pending her 1 p.m. Dec. 2 sentencing.
Martin P. Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, recommended a two-year prison term, but Kozic’s lawyer, Mark Lavelle, said she should be sentenced to the 16 months she has already been jailed awaiting disposition of her case.
Regardless of her term of incarceration, three years of post-release control (probation) is mandatory, the prosecutor said.
Judge Curran sentenced Kozic’s brothers, Zoltan J. Kozic, 37, of East Calla Road, New Middletown, and Jamie D. Kozic, 31, of Wilson Street, Struthers, to 18 and 20 years in prison, respectively, on Sept. 1, after a jury convicted them of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, burglary and OxyContin trafficking.
The jury convicted Zoltan Kozic of five burglary counts and two OxyContin trafficking counts. The panel convicted his brother of seven burglary counts, one count each of attempted burglary and possessing criminal tools and three OxyContin trafficking counts.
The OxyContin trafficking occurred early in 2010 in Mahoning County, and the burglaries occurred in late 2009 and early 2010 in Parkman, Hubbard, Boardman, Poland and Columbiana, according to the indictment.
Items taken in the burglaries included a credit card, televisions, firearms, cash and jewelry, with the stolen jewelry having been pawned in Mahoning County, Desmond said.