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Feds sentence man for running drug house
Man sentenced to 91/2 years for drug operation
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
DeAngelo Young asked federal Judge Benita Y. Person for another chance Thursday.
The judge responded by asking Young how many chances he has had before sentencing him to 91/2 years in prison for running a drug house in the 100 block of East Chalmers Avenue.
Judge Pearson said the home had been raided by police five times since 2010, and she also cited Young’s lengthy criminal record, which U.S. Attorney David Toepfer said goes back to 1996.
“You asked for another chance? You’ve had several,” Judge Pearson said. “What makes you think this chance is different?”
“I was using drugs then,” Young said of his past criminal activity. “I learned the hard way, but I learned.”
Young was convicted by a jury in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio in June of one count of maintaining drug-involved premises, but he was acquitted on two federal firearms charges, being a felon in possession of a firearm and having a silencer.
Prosecutors said cocaine was being sold from the home.
In a sentencing memorandum, Toepfer said city police had raided Young’s home on East Chalmers Avenue five times from September 2010 until August 2013. In those raids, police found drugs, money, drug paraphernalia and scales, and in at least three of them also found guns.
Toepfer said even though Young had claimed he had moved, he was still overseeing the home. He asked for a sentence in the range of 110 to 137 months, saying that Young was on probation at the time of the last raid and had been released from prison just eight months before.
In his sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Walter Madison said his client has not been convicted of any drug offense and the jury found him innocent of the firearms charges. He continued that argument in court, telling Judge Pearson that it was not fair to his client because Young was not living in the home the last time it was raided and he was not charged with having cocaine. He also said the jury’s verdict that he was innocent of the gun charges should also be taken into consideration and he said his client has a colostomy bag resulting from a medical problem. He suggested a sentence in the range of 63 to 78 months.
Toepfer said the medical condition comes from a wound Young suffered in 1996 when he was shot. Toepfer said he has had 11 criminal convictions since the injury.
“Whatever physical ailment he may have did not prevent him from committing crimes,” Toepfer said.
Young said he had a rough childhood, with a mother and brother who abused drugs and him, and that he moved away from the home to get out of the drug lifestyle. But Judge Pearson said that he knew drugs were being sold there and he did nothing to stop it.
“You knew dope was being dealt in that house, no matter where you were sleeping,” Judge Pearson said. “You could’ve stopped it.” Judge Pearson said she also was amazed it took five raids before a court took action to hold someone accountable for selling drugs from the home. She said his actions hurt not only his own six children but the neighborhood and the city.