by peter e. bortner
Joshua R. Ptaszkowski decided he needed a gun to help him sell drugs, authorities said, and he must pay for that decision with his freedom, a Schuylkill County judge decided on Monday.
Judge Charles M. Miller sentenced Ptaszkowski, 23, of Pottsville, to spend four to eight years in a state correctional institution for prohibited possession of a firearm, possession of a small amount of marijuana and two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance - crimes he committed when he already was on probation for a 2008 burglary in Shenandoah.
"There's got to be a price you pay for that," Miller, who made the prison term consecutive to the one the defendant already is serving, told an expressionless Ptaszkowski after imposing the sentence.
Miller also sentenced Ptaszkowski to pay costs, $2,000 in fines, $600 to the Substance Abuse Education Fund, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $428 restitution to the state police crime laboratory in Bethlehem, submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities and forfeit $3,300 that had been seized from him when he was arrested.
Ptaszkowski pleaded guilty to his crimes on Oct. 18, with prosecutors withdrawing on that same date two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
State police at Frackville had charged Ptaszkowski with possessing the gun, marijuana and saleable quantities of cocaine and heroin on Jan. 18 at his former residence in Shenandoah. Assistant District Attorney Leo Breznik said the gun, cocaine and heroin were found in a safe.
Breznik successfully urged Miller to impose the 4-to-8-year sentence consecutive to Ptaszkowski's current one.
After a two-day trial, a Schuylkill County jury convicted Ptaszkowski on Sept. 10, 2009, of burglary, criminal trespass and simple assault.
On Nov. 19, 2009, Judge John E. Domalakes, who presided over the trial, sentenced Ptaszkowski to spend 11 1/2 to 23 months in prison and an additional 12 months on probation and pay costs, a $200 fine and a $50 CJEA payment.
Shenandoah police charged Ptaszkowski and Ruben Pena with burglarizing the 402 1/2 W. Oak St. apartment of Alberta Matejick on April 6, 2008.
Police said Ptaszkowski and Pena broke into Matejick's apartment and threatened her and Nathan Joppy, and that Pena had pointed a gun at Matejick's head.
He was released from prison on parole on April 21, 2010, and that parole, but not his probation, had ended when he was arrested for his current crimes.
On Feb. 13, Domalakes revoked Ptazkowski's probation from that case and sentenced him to serve eight to 24 months in a state prison; Monday's sentence will be served consecutive to that one. Domalakes ruled that prosecutors proved Ptaszkowski had violated his probation by not reporting to his probation officer, not living where he was supposed to be, not informing authorities of his move and smoking marijuana.
Domalakes sentenced Pena, 22, of Shenandoah, on Nov. 23, 2009, to serve five to 10 years in a state prison, ruling his use of a gun required the five-year minimum term. Pena, whose conviction and sentence were upheld in 2010 by a three-judge state Superior Court panel, is serving his time at SCI/Houtzdale, Clearfield County.Defendant: Joshua R. Ptaszkowski
Age: 23
Residence: Pottsville, formerly of Shenandoah
Crimes committed: Prohibited possession of a firearm, possession of a small amount of marijuana and two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance
Prison sentence: Four to eight years in a state correctional institution, consecutive to current sentence