For
Bronx Arson of
Competing
Deli 28 Months
In
Prison Imposed
In Nearly
Empty SDNY
Courtroom
By Matthew
Russell Lee
NEW YORK CITY,
February 1 – A Bronx man who
pled guilty to conspiracy
leading to the burning down of
a convenience store in the
Bronx on 11 September 2016 was
sentenced to 28 months in
prison on February 1 by Judge
William H. Pauley III in the
US District Court for the
Southern District of New York.
Arson and
The Bronx were for a time
synonymous, though few of the
perpetrators were caught much
less sentenced. Times have
changed. Present at Friday
afternoon's sentencing on the
20th floor of the Daniel
Patrick Moynihan U.S.
Courthouse were only the
defendant Richard Sanchez and
his lawyer, a lone prosecutor,
three family members and Inner
City Press. Yet the tale was
heartbreaking, in its way.
Sanchez'
lawyer Patrick Brackley
recounted that he had prior
run-ins with the law, citing
an incident with a dirt bike.
But, he said, Sanchez had used
his time out free on bail to
re-build his life. Sanchez
himself read what he called an
open letter to Judge Pawley,
speaking about his ten year
old daughter, a business he
was starting and his brand.
Judge Pauley said he took note
of these but found it
inexplicable that someone
would, for $500, agree to find
people to burn down a store in
their own neighborhood.
Sanchez was contracted by the
owner of one deli to burn
down a nearly-open
competitor; both stores were
across the street from where
Sanchez lived. Judge Pauley
told Sanchez he was lucky no
one had been injured or
killed, alluding to the felony
murder rule which would have
held Sanchez liable.
While the prosecution via
Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam
S. Hobson sought a sentence of
from 46 to 57 months, Pauley
imposed 28 months in prison to
be followed by three years of
supervised release, at a
prison as near to New York
City as possible.
Restitution of $50,000 was
ordered, and the same standard
$100 mandatory special
assessment that SDNY Judge
Edgar Ramos had imposed the
day before on former NYPD
Lieutenant Paul Dean for his
admitted role in gun permits
for cash scam (see Inner City
Press' story here).
That
sentencing drew a gaggle; that
of Richard Sanchez for his
role in the arson of a store
in the Bronx did not. Pauley
said to his mostly empty
courtroom, The public must
understand that people can't
be going around burning down
stores in their own
neighborhood.
The case: United
States v. Richard Sanchez,
18 Cr. 26 (WHP)
Upcoming in the
SDNY is a just-filed complaint
by the Bangladesh Central Bank
for the $81 million hacking of
its funds, which were then
wired through the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, a case
that Inner City Press will
cover. Times change. Watch
this site.
***
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