LOCKPORT – Darren J. Holland, a Niagara Falls teenager who was charged with four burglaries and two attempted burglaries in that city, accepted a plea offer Thursday in Niagara County Court.
Holland, 18, of 87th Street, pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, which carries a maximum 15-year prison term.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Scalzo said he was recommending no more than five years in prison, but County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said she was keeping her options open for the Nov. 14 sentencing.
In the meantime, Holland is being held in the County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
He was one of four young men charged in a burglary spree earlier this year in the Falls, although he was the only one not named in an indictment filed last month.
Holland’s guilty plea was for a break-in at a home on 97th Street on March 12 or 13.
But Scalzo said Holland had agreed to pay a total of $926.50 in restitution to all six victims.
Holland also was charged with taking part in five other crimes with the people named in the indictment.
The crimes included two break-ins June 26 at homes on Witkop Avenue and an attempted separate that day on Laughlin Drive. Aaron M. Adamec, 19, of 70th Street, has been indicted in those three crimes.
Holland also was accused of joining two brothers, Mark A. Pardee, 21, and Justin S. Pardee, 18, formerly of 100th Street, in a June 18 burglary on Mang Avenue. He also was charged with helping Mark Pardee in a June 7 break-in on Pasadena Avenue.
Holland told Farkas that shortly before the crimes, he had stopped taking Adderol, a prescription drug for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, which he had been on since age 8.
“Think there was a connection?” the judge asked.
Holland said he chose to medicate himself by drinking and taking the drug K2, a synthetic marijuana imitation. The judge called Holland’s choice “dangerous.”
email: tprohaska@buffnews.com
Holland, 18, of 87th Street, pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, which carries a maximum 15-year prison term.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Scalzo said he was recommending no more than five years in prison, but County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said she was keeping her options open for the Nov. 14 sentencing.
In the meantime, Holland is being held in the County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
He was one of four young men charged in a burglary spree earlier this year in the Falls, although he was the only one not named in an indictment filed last month.
Holland’s guilty plea was for a break-in at a home on 97th Street on March 12 or 13.
But Scalzo said Holland had agreed to pay a total of $926.50 in restitution to all six victims.
Holland also was charged with taking part in five other crimes with the people named in the indictment.
The crimes included two break-ins June 26 at homes on Witkop Avenue and an attempted separate that day on Laughlin Drive. Aaron M. Adamec, 19, of 70th Street, has been indicted in those three crimes.
Holland also was accused of joining two brothers, Mark A. Pardee, 21, and Justin S. Pardee, 18, formerly of 100th Street, in a June 18 burglary on Mang Avenue. He also was charged with helping Mark Pardee in a June 7 break-in on Pasadena Avenue.
Holland told Farkas that shortly before the crimes, he had stopped taking Adderol, a prescription drug for attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, which he had been on since age 8.
“Think there was a connection?” the judge asked.
Holland said he chose to medicate himself by drinking and taking the drug K2, a synthetic marijuana imitation. The judge called Holland’s choice “dangerous.”
email: tprohaska@buffnews.com