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Former coach faces possibility of jail time
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Rango
YOUNGSTOWN
A former Youngstown State University assistant softball coach was given the opportunity to stay out of prison after a drug conviction, but she may have squandered that chance.
Gina L. Rango, 27, of Woodworth Road, North Lima, appeared Tuesday before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for a hearing on a possible probation violation. Rango is on three years’ probation after her conviction on four felony-four counts of trafficking in drugs.
“The alleged violation is that she tested positive for cocaine and opiates,” said Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistance county prosecutor. “She was also to complete a program through TASC [Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes], and she failed to do that.”
Rango, accompanied by her attorney David Betras, agreed there was probable cause to have a formal probation-violation hearing.
She will be back before Judge Evans on March 28 for that hearing.
McLaughlin said Rango faces the possibility of spending six years in prison if she is found to have violated her probation.
“She absolutely could be sent to prison. She could also be sent to treatment, but we are not sure what will happen,” McLaughlin said.
“She will definitely be held in jail pending the probation-violation hearing.”
In May 2010, the Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force arrested Rango at her residence.
A county grand jury indicted her on four counts of oxycodone trafficking.
She ultimately pleaded guilty to the charges in a plea deal with prosecutors.
At the time of Rango’s sentencing, Martin Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor, told the court the prosecutor’s office agreed to the plea deal because the chances of Rango re-offending were low.
Desmond said Rango was the go-between in drug transactions for a drug dealer, but did not actually sell any drugs. In exchange for her efforts, he said, Rango would receive drugs for her own use.
Betras, representing Rango, said his client became a victim of her own competitive nature because she would play her sports while in pain and eventually turned to prescription pills to help ease that pain.