http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140416/THISJUSTIN/704169944
Springfield case ends in plea deal
April 16,2014
Rutland Herald
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A young mother who was arrested during last summer’s “Operation Precision Valley” sweep of suspected drug dealers in Springfield pleaded guilty Tuesday and received a “community furlough” sentence.
Amber White, 21, of Springfield, was arrested in June along with her boyfriend, Matthew Neathawk, and originally charged with three felony counts of selling heroin. She subsequently racked up four additional charges of violating her court-ordered conditions for pre-trial release.
Detectives with the Vermont Drug Task Force said White and Neathawk had shown up last May at a busy parking lot in downtown Springfield to sell a bundle of 10 bags of heroin to an informant who traveled from Bennington to make the purchase, while a police surveillance team monitored the transaction.
In Tuesday’s plea deal, White pleaded guilty to a single felony count of heroin sales and to two of the condition violations, with all the remaining four charges dismissed.
White received a 0-to-4 year sentence under the state’s new community furlough program which, as Judge Karen Carroll explained during Tuesday’s sentencing, means while White gets to immediately return home to serve her sentence, “with one slip up you can go directly to jail without stopping in court first.”
White told the judge she had been doing well in counseling and had completed a 28-day stay at the Valley Vista drug treatment facility in Bradford after her arrests.
Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill recommended the sentence to the court, saying, “The great thing about a community furlough sentence is that it will be primarily a rehabilitative sentence designed to get her off heroin and get her to stay off heroin. We wish her well and we hope we do not see her back in court again.”
Great! Another plea deal; another offender walks with no jail time. Has our justice system here in Vermont become so controverted that no one does jail time anymore? Obviously, I am behind the times, because apparently the word "punishment" has been removed from the dictionary. At least the one that is kept in our courthouses.
ReplyDeleteAnother joke sentence handed out.
ReplyDeleteWhite received a 0-to-4 year sentence under the state’s new community furlough program which, as Judge Karen Carroll explained during Tuesday’s sentencing, means while White gets to immediately return home to serve her sentence.
Its obvious that no one attached to the judicial system in Vermont cares one iota about stopping the major drug problem probably because it is so lucrative for all of the attorneys and judges involved. Why bother to arrest anyone if they get sent home as a punishment?
Amen Anonymous 4/16/14 10:42 AM! As long as there are no consequences for being involved in the drug trade, the "opiate epidemic" here in Vermont is going to get worse. Our elected reprehensibles and courts either don't understand crime and punishment or are too naive to figure it out. Either way, it's the law abiding community that suffers and PAYS! Those court appointed attorneys really aren't free.
Deletethe judge and the d.a. should have to take this woman home with them; they are both totally clueless.
ReplyDeleteThe facts in this case are you have a non-listed offender who has no prior record and Jails full that can not accommodate them. Do we really want to waste a bed on this women who should be out trying to get her act together? She deserves a chance to get it together. 0-4 years seems about right for this case.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right! Rehab cost a fraction of incarceration and works much better.
DeleteTom C Donovan
Pardon me, but we are talking about a DEALER here.......
DeleteThis is a new thing that courts are doing all over. I just watched a show on it. They feel they have a better chance to rehabilitate someone with court ordered drug treatment etc etc and that it supports a person back to becoming a respectable member of society.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is this. If you were dealing and getting other people let alone kids addicted to this horrible drug then you should do hard time in my opinion. If you were just caught up in the fray and were using then yes maybe give that person a chance but NOT the people poisoning our kids...
If it's on T.V., it must be true!
DeleteWe showed her! I'm sure she is scared straight. We will never see her in court again, for sure.
ReplyDeleteA heroin dealer might as well shoot the customers. It is more humane.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this farce of a judicial system needs some FOX News coverage.
ReplyDeleteRidiculous.
ReplyDeleteWell today you can't spank a brat to straighten the brat out, like in the olden days when my mother would get out the rubber spachula. Seems like today you can't toughen up the punishment of a very dangerous brat, one that possibly kills people with their drug crimes. Wake up to TODAY
ReplyDeleteconsider yourself lucky, I got the thick leather belt, if I was lucky I got the leather vs the buckle. So true, kids today are so enabled it's a surprise any one of them make it.
DeleteWhat on Earth? Surely there is more to this story, they gave a "heroin dealer" a furlough with no jail time? I can understand someone busted for mere possession getting that treatment, but what the heck is going on here? Has the Court system converted to merely a clientele pipeline to HCRS or something? This one couldn't keep the conditions while she was out on bail.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you Aethelred. I know of two others who were arrested in the same bust and both are now serving time right now. And neither of them had additional charges against them after the initial arrest. Makes you wonder what's going on in the court system. Maybe it has something to do with who you know? Or maybe it has to do with who you can turn in if you're left out on the streets? Too many questions in this one and not enough answers. Doing rehab is a good thing if someone actually follows through, but one has to wonder if she will grow up and take full responsibility for her actions at some point? She's had a lot of help so far, but from the looks of it, she's still doing pretty much what she wants to do without taking much responsibility for anything.
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