Published: May 06, 2008 12:12 pm      

ORLEANS COUNTY COURT: Two jailed after guilty pleas

Two young Orleans County women who pleaded guilty to violating probation will spend the next year in the local jail.

Kelly M. Hoyt, 30, South Main Street, Holley, served less than five months of a five-year probation sentence before she landed back in county court in February. She originally pleaded guilty to felony second-degree grand larceny.

The list of violations against her include: Failure to secure employment for a four-month period, failure to report to probation on three separate occasions, failure to notify probation of her change in address and failure to obey reasonable requests of probation.

During her guilty plea in March, Hoyt admitted to leaving the county and consuming alcohol without permission at a bar in Brockport.

She also failed to make restitution payments on $30,584.96 owed to the victim in the case.

Assistant Public Defender Nathan Pace argued for weekend incarceration on Hoyt’s behalf.

“I do realize it is my responsibility and my responsibility only to make those appointments,” Hoyt said before sentencing. She made the “wrong choice” and chose to acquaint herself with the wrong friends, she said.

Orleans County Judge James Punch called Hoyt a “thief.”

“You really need to pay back the money you stole,” he said. “I sentence you to one year in the Orleans County Jail. ... You are in ... custody.”

Violation of probation sentencing was the same for 23-year old mother of two, Kimberly S. Schuster, Orient Street, Medina.

Schuster originally pleaded guilty to felony fifth-degree attempted possession of a criminal substance, a crime for which she was sentenced to five years probation Aug. 29, 2005. The case involved the confiscation of 35 bags of cocaine located in the same vicinity as her children, Punch said.

While on probation, Schuster missed several appointments and failed to report for drug screening. She was in contact with co-defendant Jordan Young in the case, whom she was ordered to stay away from, and was found in possession of alcohol.

She also failed to complete her GED and maintain employment, both requirements of probation. She failed to pay her mandatory sentencing charge, as well.

Since that time, Schuster has done everything she can to improve, the defense said. Her children, ages 5 and 1, are her soul responsibility, he said.

Punch said Schuster has neglected to take probation “seriously,” sentencing her to one year in the Orleans County Jail. Her children, who were in the care of a baby-sitter during court, are in the hands of the Department of Social Services.

The defense’s request that Schuster have until 5 p.m. to report to the jail was denied.

“I am not going to release her at this time,” Punch said. “She knew she was going to jail.”

In other county court news:

n Jessie B. Jackson, 26, Temperance Street, Albion, will register as a level two sex offender. He was sentenced to 60 days incarceration and six years probation in a rape case involving a 13-year-old girl. The co-defendant in the case, Daniel M. Fritz II, was sentenced to up to three years in state prison in November.

n Eugene J. LaMont, 45, Murdock Road, Yates, rejected a plea offer from the district attorney’s office for a split sentence. He was arraigned in county court in November on the charges of second-degree criminal sale of marijuana, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, first-degree unlawfully dealing with a child and endangering the welfare of a child.

He posted bail in the amount of $5,000. The trial is scheduled to take place May 14.

n Joe A. Bonilla, 18, West Oak Orchard Street, Medina, is scheduled to enter drug court May 12. He is expected to plead guilty to felony fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

A Medina High School student, Bonilla has been accused of selling prescription Xanax. The felony charge will be dismissed, should Bonilla successfully complete drug court.

Contact reporter Nicole Colemanat 798-1400, ext. 2227.