3 sentenced to state prison for drug crimes in Orleans County
ALBION – Three people were sentenced to state prison in Orleans County Court today for drug crimes, with another woman getting four months of weekends in jail for her third driving while intoxicated conviction.
Keith Toney, 36, of Rochester received the longest sentence of four years in prison.
Toney and a Rochester woman Lakusha McMorris, 35, both were arrested on Jan. 27 following a six-month investigation into the sale and distribution of crack cocaine from the City of Rochester to Medina.
McMorris was sentenced to two years in state prison today.
Toney admitted in a previous court he arranged the transactions by phone and McMorris said she was the delivery person on three occasions. Toney was charged in January with nine counts of criminal sale of controlled substance in the third degree.
Toney pleaded guilty to third-degree attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty specifically to arranging for a cocaine sale at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Brockport on Aug. 27, 2014.
Toney made the drug deal with an informant from Orleans County, which is why the case has been handled in Orleans County. Brockport is located in neighboring Monroe County.
Toney’s attorney Nathan Pace asked the judge for leniency, saying Toney has had no criminal offenses the past 18 years after he endured “a horrible childhood.”
Judge James Punch said Toney has a “serious criminal history.” The judge gave Toney four years in state prison, one year less than the maximum as part of a plea deal.
McMorris pleaded guilty to attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. Her attorney Larry Koss asked for a split sentence, with no state prison.
“You seem to have profited from the sale of these drugs for quite some time,” Punch told her at sentencing.
McMorris, a first time felony offender, has twice been on probation.
In another case, Leeanne Krull, 45, of Albion was sentenced to two years in state prison. She pleaded guilty on May 18 to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree, which carries a maximum sentence of 2 ½ years in state prison.
Krull admitted in court on May 18 to having hydrocodone in Medina. She told Judge Punch she sold it one time on April 22.
The judge gave her two years in state prison, just under the maximum.
In another case, a Niagara County woman was sentenced to weekends in jail for four months despite a request from her attorney for no jail time.
Julie R. Wisniewski, 38, of Lewiston has three DWI convictions. She was stopped on Point Breeze Road in Carlton on April 12, 2014 and registered a .21 Blood Alcohol Content. She took her case to trial and was convicted by jury of DWI (felony due to previous conviction) and aggravated driving while intoxicated.
Punch said some jail time was needed for Wisniewski. However, he didn’t want her to lose her job or custody of her son.
“I don’t want you to do this again,” the judge told her. “You could easily kill someone.”
Wisniewski will also be on probation for five years, have her license revoked for a year, pay a $500 surcharge and will be required to install an interlock ignition device that measures her BAC before she drives.
