Ithaca, N.Y. — A Trumansburg man charged with robbing a drug dealer in Ithaca in 2014 pleaded guilty to felony burglary charges on Wednesday.
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John Oliver-Arroyo, who was originally charged with first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery, admitted to the charge of third-degree burglary, a class D felony.
The plea deal, offered by assistant district attorney Eliza Filipowski, allowed Arroyo to avoid jail time, gave him five years of probation and required him to check into an in-patient drug treatment facility.
At around 9:30 p.m. on April 3 2014, Oliver-Arroyo, 20, along with two others, entered the Spencer Street home of an Ithaca College student, who intended to sell the trio 3 pounds of marijuana, according to court documents.
“I went in and at first I was supposed to go in as a decoy type of thing. It wasn’t really nothing but trying to make sure that those people had what they were supposed to,” Oliver-Arroyo said at the trial.
Later, the three returned carrying golf clubs and proceeded to steal a safe, a Macbook computer, an ounce of Marijuana and $1300, according to court records.
“We were there for the drugs and money basically,” Oliver-Arroyo said.
After the three exited the home, the victim chased down Oliver-Arroyo, stabbing him the shoulder. Oliver-Arroyo later went to the hospital to treat the injury, where the victim identified him.
The original plea deal offered to Arroyo included 6 months of jail time; however, following a conference between the judge, ADA Filipowski and defense attorney Todd Miller, the deal was amended to the new terms.
Included within the deal Oliver-Arroyo accepted was an agreement to waive all possible right to appeal. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Oliver-Arroyo was the only person to have been found in the burglary by law enforcement. In fact, two others were apprehended.d.