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Judge imprisons Oldtown man for pharmacy heist

 

03-Apr-2007: SANDPOINT -- An Oldtown man who admitted burglarizing a Sandpoint pharmacy and stealing thousands of prescription pills was sentenced Friday to up to 15 years in prison.

District Judge Lansing Haynes ordered Brandon Lewis Ochoa to serve at least five years before becoming eligible for probation. Restitution is pending, although it could top $15,000, according to Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Jim Stow.

Ochoa, 29, pleaded guilty to breaking into the White Cross Pharmacy on April 3, 2006, and possessing some 12,000 doses of painkillers and other medications taken during the heist. He also admitted burglarizing a motel room a week or so before the White Cross rip-off.


In exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of burglary and one count of grand theft by possession, three other felony charges were dismissed. Those charges included possessing the stolen narcotics with the intent of selling them, and possessing a stolen credit card and methamphetamine.

Ochoa's mother and sister urged the court for leniency, saying his criminal record provides a one-dimensional view of who he is as a person and that his conduct tended to hurt himself rather than others.

They also said Ochoa lacked a positive male role model growing up and struggled with drug dependence for years.

"He's never really gotten the chance to get some real serious help," said Ochoa's mother, Jennifer Dial.

Stow disagreed, pointing out that Ochoa has been in and out of Idaho's drug court program and the state's retained jurisdiction program. Stow also took issue with the victimless slant to Ochoa's misdeeds.

The prescription medications, including the notoriously addictive painkiller OxyContin, were destined to be sold on the black market instead of to people who were taking them under a doctor's supervision.

"The crimes of theft here are a danger to the public at large," said Stow, who recommended a trio of concurrent 10- to 15-year prison sentences.

Ochoa's defense attorney, Peter Jones, lobbied for sentences of 1-3 years, emphasizing that Ochoa has been forthright with authorities about the burglaries and his drug problems.

"Here's a guy who genuinely wants to make himself better," Jones said. "My concern is I don't think Brandon has really been held to the fire for his substance abuse."

Haynes said he harbored no doubt that Ochoa was at heart a good person, but added that he had no choice but to consider his criminal past. Ochoa, whose record is studded with theft and burglary charges, had been out of prison for less than five months when he committed the White Cross break-in.

"I'm concerned with the fact that you were out of prison a few months before these crimes were committed," said Haynes, who opted for concurrent 5- to 15-year sentences on the three charges.

Ochoa was sentenced as a persistent violator due to burglary convictions in Benewah County in 1996 and 2002.

Source: Bonner County Daily Bee