GREENFIELD — A 32-year-old man was sentenced to three years in a Massachusetts prison after pleading guilty to a cocaine trafficking charge Monday afternoon.
Speaking from the Essex County Jail in Lewis, N.Y., Stephon Dawson appeared before Franklin County Superior Court Judge Jane Mulqueen via the online video and audio conferencing platform Zoom.
Mulqueen asked Dawson a series of questions to ensure he understood his rights before accepting the guilty plea, which was the recommendation of First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne, who is prosecuting the case, and defense counsel Stephen Shea.
There is a two-year minimum for this state charge and Dawson will receive 500 days’ credit. His sentence will run concurrently with the one he serves for pleading guilty to similar charges at the federal level. Dawson is in federal custody awaiting sentencing.
Mulqueen also ensured Dawson was subjecting himself to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Shea and Gagne said they had no issue with Dawson sitting in New York while being sentenced in Massachusetts.
Dawson did not object to Gagne’s statement of facts regarding Dawson’s arrest. According to Gagne, Dawson was a passenger in a vehicle stopped in Deerfield by Massachusetts State Police shortly after midnight on March 31, 2018. The vehicle reportedly had excessively tinted windows.
The driver, Malissa Burnor, of Colchester, Vt., said she did not have a driver’s license, and a trooper noticed what was later confirmed to be drug paraphernalia in Burnor’s purse while she searched for identification. Dawson and Burnor were then asked to exit the vehicle and a subsequent search yielded $1,522 and 25.63 grams of cocaine, a Class B drug.
Gagne told Mulqueen that Dawson and Burnor had gone to Springfield to purchase the cocaine, with the intent to sell it in Vermont.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.