In Indiana County Court today, a number of defendants are scheduled for sentencing, including a Homer City man who is involved in three separate cases.
JAMES VERNON HOLLEY
James Vernon Holley, who turned 51 years old yesterday, is due before Judge William Martin to be sentenced for a guilty plea to possession with intent to deliver. Holley was pulled over for a traffic violation last August and state troopers found 29 bundles of heroin and four loose stamp bags.
Holley will also be sentenced for driving under the influence and a firearms violation for another traffic stop, and he will plead and be sentenced for another DUI case.
TORRENCE DEONTA LYDE
Also coming before Judge Martin today is a complicated case involving 26-year-old Torrence Deonta Lyde, a Cleveland, Ohio man convicted of possession with intent to deliver heroin, conspiracy, simple possession, and reckless endangerment, and resisting arrest. He was one of five people arrested in a raid at a home on Poplar Avenue in Indiana, where he blocked a bathroom door and attempted to flush drugs down the toilet Lyde was sentenced May 28 by Judge William Martin to serve three to 12 years in prison for possession with intent to deliver, a concurrent term of three to 12 years for reckless endangerment, and consecutive terms of one to two years for conspiracy to deliver 1.8 grams of heroin, and six months to one year resisting arrest. After a series of appeals, it was determined that the mandatory minimum sentence was illegal and so Lyde will be re-sentenced today.
PHILLIP ZIMMERMAN III
61-year-old Phillip Zimmerman III of Clymer will be sentenced for criminal use of a communication facility and simple possession, with agreement for non-prosecution for possession with intent to deliver. He was charged last March after selling heroin to a confidential informant at a pull-off along Route 119 in Rayne Township.
MICHAEL DUFFEY JR.
30-year-old Michael Duffey Jr. of Blairsville will be sentenced for possession with intent to deliver marijuana in a case originating in February of last year.
ALPHONSO EMBRY
56-year-old Alphonso Embry of Blairsville is scheduled to be sentenced for conspiracy to possession with intent to deliver for a November 2015 case in which he sold three suboxone films to s confidential informant at a location along School Street in Indiana Borough.
CARLA WITTERS
55-year-old Carla Witters of Plumville will be sentenced for pleading guilty to theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. Between June of 2011 and January of 2016, Witters improperly received more than $73,800 in veterans and Social Security benefits from Bobby Witters Jr.. Bobby Witters was previously sentenced to two years of probation plus restitution for illegally obtaining more than $1,500 in benefits.
