by peter e. bortner
Alex Colon-Zavala grew marijuana in both his barber shop and a rented house in Mahanoy City, and should go to state prison as a result, a Schuylkill County judge decided Friday.
Colon-Zavala, 49, of Hazleton, will serve 11 to 36 months in a state correctional institution under the terms of President Judge William E. Baldwin's sentence.
"You don't support your children by selling drugs," Baldwin told a weeping Colon-Zavala before imposing the sentence. "You don't support them by violating the law."
Baldwin also sentenced Colon-Zavala to pay costs and $437.20 restitution to the state police crime laboratory in Bethlehem.
A Schuylkill County jury of nine men and three women on Feb. 5 deliberated about 30 minutes before convicting Colon-Zavala of manufacture of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, while Baldwin, who presided over the one-day trial, found him guilty of two counts of possession of a small amount of marijuana.
State police at Reading charged Colon-Zavala with growing marijuana on Aug. 16, 2012, at his 638 W. Mahanoy Ave. barber shop and a house at 27 E. Pine St. Police said they confiscated three marijuana plants from the barber shop and seven from the house, and that the defendant admitted the plants and equipment were his.
However, Colon-Zavala, who neither testified nor offered any other evidence at his trial, said something quite different on Friday.
"I took the blame for my son's action," he told Baldwin.
Colon-Zavala also said he fears that New Jersey authorities will take his other children.
Baldwin refused to allow Colon-Zavala to fire his lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Kent D. Watkins, saying he could not raise claims that Watkins did not represent him properly at the sentencing hearing.Defendant: Alex Colon-Zavala
Age: 49
Residence: Hazleton
Crimes committed: Manufacture of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of possession of a small amount of marijuana
Prison sentence: 11 to 36 months in a state correctional institution