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Cocaine trafficker gets 3 years in prison
YOUNGSTOWN
A Campbell man has been sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to cocaine possession and trafficking and tampering with evidence.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Wednesday on Jason R. Carter, 37, of Rosary Drive, in connection with crimes he committed Aug. 20.
Carter will also forfeit $3,590 associated with the drug activity, which will be divided between Campbell police and the county prosecutor’s office.
The tampering charge pertains to concealment or removal of drugs and a firearm to impair their value or availability as evidence.
In the plea deal, the prosecution agreed to drop charges of illegal gun possession and domestic violence and an additional drug possession charge pertaining to Hydrocodone and Xanax.
The prosecution agreed to stand silent on any application by Carter for early release by the judge after he serves the first two years of his prison term.
The drug charges were filed after Campbell police responded to a domestic-dispute call, Stephen Maszczak, an assistant county prosecutor, told the judge.
A grand jury indicted Carter on the cocaine possession and trafficking charges at the first-degree felony level, carrying up to 11 years in prison. They were, however, reduced in the plea deal to the third-degree felony level, carrying up to three years in prison, because the prosecution would have had difficulty proving the higher amount needed to qualify for the first-degree felony conviction, Maszczak explained.
The illegal gun charge, stemming from Carter’s 1999 federal cocaine distribution conspiracy conviction, was dropped because it would have been difficult to prove who owned the gun, the assistant prosecutor added.
“It’s certainly not perfect justice, but it is appropriate under the circumstances,” Judge Krichbaum said of the plea deal.
Carter told the judge he wants to use his prison time “to reflect on the choices I’ve made, so I can come out and be a better man.”
State law forbids an appeal because the sentence was agreed to by the prosecution and defense and adopted by the judge.
Carter will get credit for the 138 jail days he’s already served in the county jail. He’ll be on probation for three years after prison.