Two men appeared in Sixth Judicial District Court recently, both faced felony controlled substance charges and carried with them a criminal history.
Widner
Cory James Widner, age 26, pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance, a category E felony on Aug. 8, with a charge of taking a motor vehicle dismissed pursuant to plea negotiations. At his sentence hearing, Widner had filed a motion to rescind the guilty plea, which the court denied.
Widner’s attorney, Matthew Stermitz asked the court to sentence Widner and suspend the sentence and allow him an opportunity to complete probation.
Considering his criminal history, Deputy District Attorney Anthony Gordon recommended Widner be sent to carry out the 12–24 months prison sentence recommended by parole and probation.
Widner claimed to be more than willing to accept responsibility for his actions and said he wants to be a substance abuse counselor. He asked the judge to allow him to leave for an intensive treatment program in Oregon where he said he had housing and family.
Montero denied Widner’s request, convicting him of a category D felony for possession of a controlled substance and ordering him to carry out a sentence of 12–34 months in prison with 103 days credit for time served. He was also ordered to pay a $25 administrative assessment fee and $153 for DNA collection and analysis.
“You do have a very extensive history that becomes problematic to the court at this juncture and recognizing that, the state agreed to dismiss some other counts that you could have been charged for,” said Montero.
Jerome
Dylan Eugene Jerome had been convicted of possession of a controlled substance for sale, a category D felony just over a year ago and was given the opportunity to complete four years of probation instead of prison. Theft charges against Jerome in the same case were dropped in plea negotiations.
Jerome returned to court before Judge Michael Montero a year later, this time facing violation charges of his probation and the possibility to be sent to prison to carry out the original 12–34 month prison sentence.
Jerome had been participating in the Elko drug court program, which he admitted to violating the terms of, along with financial obligations of his probation.
Jerome’s attorney, Maureen McQuillan explained to the court that the details of his violation report were not as “black and white” as they seemed. She said he had been doing well at staying away from individuals he had known to be associated with drugs, and received a text message inquiring about acid. Jerome reportedly did not respond to the text message and deleted it, confirmed upon further investigation.
McQuillan said the Elko courts had agreed to reinstate the terms of Jerome’s probation, pending decision of Judge Montero. She said Jerome had researched and found and applied to a 6–12 month therapeutic recovery facility in Fallon.
He was accepted into the program and McQuillan said the drug court program in Elko would allow him to go to that facility as a substitution to their drug court program. She asked for Montero’s approval in sending Jerome to that program rather than to prison.
Considering his history with drugs, Gordon recommended the court send him to prison to carry out his prison sentence, in agreeance with the recommendation from parole and probation. At 23 years old, Jerome had already accumulated three prior felony convictions.
“I don’t know how many chances a person gets,” said Gordon.
Jerome apologized for his actions and asked for a second chance by going to Fallon. He said he doesn’t have any connections to Winnemucca, his arrest here being by chance. He explained to Montero what he knew about the program in Fallon.
“As far as I understand, the program is a working ranch taking care of horses and cows, learning how to cook, doing chores, daily devotional with the gospel and going to church on Sundays,” said Jerome.
Montero agreed to give Jerome one more chance at staying out of prison by going to the working ranch in Fallon for six months at minimum.
“If you walk away or aren’t appropriately discharged, you won’t be asking for a fourth chance,” said Montero. “You went to inpatient vitality, new frontier inpatient and now this program, don’t ask for a fourth in a matter of less than a year.”
