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Man sentenced on weapons charge
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Carlos Valentin told a judge Monday he could not exactly explain why he had a gun just two months after he was released from prison – even though he knew he was not allowed to have one.
“I can’t answer that right now,” Valentin told Judge Lou D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court just before he was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of aggravated assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Valentin was arrested last September after a fight with another man at an Argyle Drive residence in Boardman, and police found a loaded handgun under his mattress.
Charges of felonious assault and aggravated burglary in the case were dropped because the victim never showed up for any hearings in county court in Boardman.
Valentin was sentenced to four years in prison by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum in August 2010 after pleading guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery. Because of that conviction, he is barred from owning a firearm.
Judge D’Apolito said he could not understand why Valentin would risk going back to prison by getting a gun.
“He gets out of prison, and the first thing he does is go out and get a gun. Why?” Judge D’Apolito asked him. “Why would you be so foolish?”
The plea arrangement Valentin worked out called for the three-year sentence, and prosecutors also agreed to stand silent if Valentin makes a request for judicial release as long as he has no negative reports in prison.
Valentin, who had some family members in court with him, apologized.
“I apologize to my court and my family and my kids for not thinking before I acted,” Valentin said. “I wasn’t using my head correctly.”
The judge asked Valentin if he felt he needed a gun because “the streets are rough” and he needed to protect himself, and Valentin said that was one reason why he had a gun.
In the incident in which Valentin was arrested, a woman was involved along with another man, and there was a baby involved. Judge D’Apolito asked what happened to the baby, and Valentin said the mother had a miscarraige.
Judge D’Apolito said there was no reason why a firearm needed to be involved.
“Two men can’t resolve a dispute without a weapon? That doesn’t make any sense,” Judge D’Apolito said.
The judge said for Valentin to have any chance of being let out of prison early, he needs to stay out of trouble and he also has to show the judge a plan on what he will do when he is released. Judge D’Apolito said he wants to know where Valentin plans to live, work and keep himself out of trouble.
“I want to see what you plan to do with your life,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Judge D’Apolito also warned Valentin that if he is ever caught with a gun while on probation after he is released from prison, he will go right back and serve the remainder of his sentence.