"... we in the Commonwealth give people second chances," Judge Peter Velis told Michaelle Santa Cruz and Alejandra Ortiz after he suspended 8 months of their 1-year jail sentence.
SPRINGFIELD – Two men from New Jersey and two women from New York pleaded guilty Tuesday to passing counterfeit $100 bills at numerous businesses and restaurants in Southwick and Westfield on April 12, 2010.
The four, sometimes together and sometimes alone, used $100 bills to buy small items such as a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts and got lots of cash back in change, Assistant District Attorney James M. Forsyth said.
Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis sentenced Victor Ocampo, 35, of Guttenberg, N.J.; and Rafael Villanueva, 34, of Paterson, N.J., to 364 days in jail. They have already served that many days awaiting trial so are being released from the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow.
Forsyth asked Velis to sentence Michaelle Santa Cruz, 25, and Alejandra Ortiz, 20, both of East Elmhurst, N.Y., to 18 months in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, saying each had a small out of state record while the two men did not.
Velis sentenced the two women to one year in the jail, but said they only had to serve four months, with the rest suspended, plus two years probation. The women each spent four months in jail before they were released on bail, so they have served the sentence given Tuesday and do not have to return to jail.
Velis said he was convinced by defense lawyer Nancy C. Flahive the two women learned their lesson by spending the four months in jail and are “two contrite young ladies.”
“Just so you know, we in the Commonwealth give people second chances,” Velis said.
Police at the time of their arrest said investigators believed the suspects may have sprayed the bogus bills with a substance that enabled them to foil the marking pens that store clerks use to detect them.
All four had been charged with 31 counts of either uttering counterfeit notes, larceny under $250, or larceny over $250.
But under the plea agreements each pleaded to fewer counts, with each pleading to passing counterfeit bills at certain businesses.
Forsyth said a store owner gave Southwick police the license plate number, neighboring communities were alerted and the car was stopped in Westfield with the small items purchased and the cash they got in change.
Among separate purchases in different stores were ice cream, cigarettes, an air freshener, a bicycle tube, a makeup applicator and coffee, Forsyth said.