STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- So much for throwing themselves on the mercy of the court.
A Dongan Hills couple hoping for leniency after they pleaded guilty to felony assault after their pit bull mauled two women were, it turns out, dealing drugs out of their home in between their court appearances, police allege.
Elise Guzman, who’s 23 and seven months pregnant, was angling for a no-jail sentence after she and her boyfriend, John Chan, 22, pleaded guilty on July 22, said a law enforcement source familiar with the case. The source said she was trying to elicit sympathy in court because of her pregnancy.
Chan, meanwhile, would likely have gotten some jail time, but prosecutors say any sentencing recommendations are now out the window.
Police allege that Chan sold oxycodone, marijuana and cocaine to an undercover detective on four separate occasions this month, both before and after the day the duo pleaded guilty.
He made one of those sales inside their home on the 500 block of Buel Avenue, two of them just outside the home, and a fourth on the corner of Hylan Boulevard and Norway Avenue.
That fourth sale happened at about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, and police came to the couple’s doorstep about an hour later with a search warrant, court papers allege. Inside, detectives found more than 35 oxycodone pills and more than two ounces of marijuana.
Both Chan and Ms. Guzman had pleaded to the top count against them in the pit bull case, second-degree assault, and were slated to sentenced before state Supreme Court Justice Robert J. Collini.
"We worked very hard to work out a plea in the Supreme Court case, and we intend on fighting these new charges aggressively, and hopefully we’ll be able to maintain the original plea," said their lawyer, Mario Gallucci.
The dog attacks happened in May of 2010, when the couple’s 60-pound pit bull, Cash, who at the time was living with its owners on North Railroad Avenue, bit into a 45-year-old woman’s leg, ripping it to the bone, and two days later bit into a 19-year-old woman’s groin.
Cash mauled the first woman on May 24, ripping her calf to the bone.
A law enforcement source said Cash attacked after the vicitm and Ms. Guzman had argued. Ms. Guzman was holding Cash back during the argument, but when Ms. Guzman’s door swung open, Cash latched onto the woman’s leg and wouldn’t let go until Chan emerged from the shower and slammed the door on the dog’s head, the source said.
Two days later, Cash struck again. The dog lunged at a 19-year-old woman while Chan was walking him, bit her in the crotch, and wouldn’t let go until Chan slammed his head into a door, authorities said. She needed plastic surgery for her genital area after the attack, according to law enforcement officials.
Police took Cash after that, and the dog went to an Animal Care and Control facility in Manhattan, where he bit three trainers on separate occasions, authorities said. The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had Cash put down in July.
Chan is charged with four counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, five counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, two counts of fourth-degree criminal sale of marijuana, and a single count of fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, said Peter N. Spencer, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan.
Ms. Guzman faces a single count of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, as well as a single count of fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana.
(SiLive - July 28, 2011)
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