Man gets five years total in two separate drug cases

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A Sebring man on bond for a spate of drug charges who was arrested again for the same offenses was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.

Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Jason Gorby, 30, of East Maryland Avenue, after Gorby entered guilty pleas to charges of illegal assembly or possession of chemicals to manufacture drugs; possession of drugs; child endangering; and two counts of trafficking in drugs.

Gorby was first charged after an Oct. 3 search warrant at his home was served by the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, where chemicals used to make methamphetamine were found as well as methamphetamine itself.

Assistant Prosecutor Mary Beth DiGravio said Gorby was on house arrest on his first case when investigators got a tip that Gorby had drug-making materials in the home of a relative where he was staying.

With the consent of the homeowner, Smith Township police searched that home and found materials to make methamphetamine and the drug itself, DiGravio said.

DiGravio said the second search took place Feb. 17, which is the day after Gorby was arraigned in common pleas court for his first case and his bond was continued, according to court records.

DiGravio said the five-year prison term is mandatory time, and Gorby is not eligible for judicial release.

There were also children present both times Gorby was arrested, DiGravio said.