Orleans judge sentences 3 to jail/prison
ALBION – Three people who committed felony crimes in Orleans County were sentenced today to either the county jail or state prison.
Jada Sorta, 20, of Sawyer Road in Kent received the longest sentence at 3 ½ years in state prison. Orleans County Court Judge James Punch said he was going to give Sorta a longer sentence, but he was impressed by her honesty and willingness to take responsibility for the crime.
Sorta previously pled guilty to attempted burglary in the second degree, which carries a maximum of 3 to 7 years in state prison. Sorta admitted to entering a home without permission on Ridge Road in Murray on May 21, stealing a bank card, keys to a vehicle and a MP3 player.
Her attorney, Dominic Saraceno, asked the judge for some leniency given that Sorta was born in the Sierra Leone and lost her mother at a young age. Sorta was in an orphanage until she was adopted by a local family.
“She didn’t have the luxury of the best childhood,” Saraceno said. “I ask that you take that into consideration.”
Sorta then interjected.
“I had a very good Christian family and I made some bad choices in the last few years,” Sorta told Punch.
In addition to 3 ½ years in state prison, the judge sentenced Sorta to 5 years of post-release supervision. He told her that honesty and taken responsibility for a crime is the first step in breaking from committing crimes in the future.
In other sentencings today:
• A former Waterport man, Kelly Chellino of Lockport, was sentenced to a year in the county jail for violating probation after he admitted to drinking alcohol, using cocaine, and punching a person in the head. He said in a previous court appearance he was sober for 3 years but relapsed in the end of June.
He apologized to his family, his probation officer and “everyone involved in this.”
“I deserve this,” he said about the sentence. “I fell off the wagon and started drinking.”
• Dustin Herzog, 27, of Albion was sentenced to six months in jail for petit larceny. He admitted to stealing chainsaws from Nesbitt Farms, a Waterport fruit farm where he was working. Herzog said in a previous court appearance he sold some of the chainsaws at pawn shops.
He apologized to the Nesbitt family today in court.
