There was only one thing Kali Zelakiewicz wanted from Judge Charles Zambito as she stood before him in Genesee County Court this morning and that was permission to continue in a drug treatment program.
The 26-year-old resident of East River Road in Grand Island was sent to the Willard Drug Treatment Center in Romulus following her conviction on fourth-degree grand larceny charges in Erie County.
With her dark hair cropped tight and clothed in prison-issued tan pants and a starched, white, button-down shirt, Zelakiewicz said Willard has been life-changing.
"There's a lot of stuff," Zelakiewicz said as she started to sob briefly, "that I've learned in 23 days that I never learned before in my life."
Zelakiewicz was arrested in Genesee County in November 2017 after a resident of Pembroke connected with Zelakiewicz on Facebook and hired her to do landscaping work. The victim provided Zelakiewicz a credit card number to cover a down payment on the work and Zelakiewicz used the information to make unauthorized purchases in Grand Island.
Information isn't available on the recent arrest in Erie County that landed Zelakiewicz in Willard but one of Zelakiewicz's prior arrests, from 2012, was for identity theft and grand larceny. Zelakiewicz was accused of using her grandmother's identity to go on a $25,000 spending spree.
Sandra Cassidy, Genesee County's newest assistant district attorney, argued for a harsh sentence given Zelakiewicz's three felony convictions.
"There doesn't appear to be an abatement or learning process by treatment and probation," Cassidy said.
But Zelakiewicz told Zambito that prior to Willard she had never been placed in drug treatment before.
Zambito had the option to sentence her to one and a half to three years in prison, with the sentence to run either concurrent to her Erie County term or consecutive to it.
The judge made the local sentence consecutive to the Erie County term but explained to Zelakiewicz that by allowing her to continue at Willard while making the sentence consecutive, he is giving her a chance to succeed but with consequences if she slips back into her old habits.
"This provides you an opportunity to prove you deserve a second chance but it also protects the community," Zambito said.
