One thing is certain, Benjamin W. Muntz is going to prison. For how long is an unanswered question after Judge Robert C. Noonan decided he needs to know whether the District Attorney's Office will indict Muntz on any new charges.
The DA is considering whether to charge Muntz with bail jumping.
More than a year ago, Muntz failed to appear for his sentencing on Class D felony convictions of burglary, 3rd, and grand larceny, 3rd.
The 24-year-old Oakfield resident is suspected of fleeing the state to avoid getting sentenced and while he was away he amassed a longer criminal record.
In October, he was arrested in Fayetteville, Ark., and charged with burglary, theft of property, breaking or entering and fraudulent use of a credit/debit card.
Muntz received a prison sentence in Arkansas and was released last week and turned over to the Sheriff's Office.
During his time away, Muntz was suspected of plotting with another man in Fayetteville to rob a farm in Genesee County. He is also reportedly wanted in Georgia for alleged crimes there.
With his failure to appear for sentencing March 27, 2012, Muntz appears to have blown a deal to receive concurrent sentences on the two felony convictions.
Assistant District Attorney Melissa Cianfrini said that even before he left the state, Muntz was suspected of violating the terms of his release under supervision by drinking and using drugs.
Muntz is married with two children.
"When you look at his pre-sentence investigation and read his mother's letter, you see that his offenses are fueled by abuse of drugs and his own greed," Cianfrini said. "He has repeatedly shown that he would rather go down the path of criminal activity rather than being responsible for his own family. He was only given a release under supervision because his wife was pregnant."
Defense Attorney Thomas Burns raised the issue of Muntz facing a possible charge of bail jumping, which could lead to a mandatory concurrent sentence with his other charges.
That possibility prohibited Burns, he said, from him discussing in court the circumstances of Muntz fleeing the state.
Noonan asked Cianfrini if the people intend to file such a charge, and Cianfrini said the matter is still under investigation and hasn't been decided.
The law would allow Noonan to consider "mitigating circumstances" and not impose consecutive sentences.
"It's hard to imagine under what set of facts exist that might be mitigating circumstances, but I don't want to prejudge the case," Noonan said. "He's going to state prison. It's just costing us money to house him here. I have an inkling I'll impose a sentence on one felony count today while we make a decision about what to do."
Noonan sentenced Muntz to three and a half to seven years in state prison on the burglary, 3rd, conviction and warned Muntz that he may yet face concurrent sentences on both the grand larceny conviction and the possible bail jumping charge, if convicted.
Muntz will appear in County Court again at 1:30 p.m., June 4, to learn the rest of his fate.
"You certainly don't know what it means to be a father," Noonan said. "The conduct you have engaged in over and over again, and the irresponsible behavior that is so evident not only in your PSI, but in your departure from the state, when you were told what would happen to you if you did, is astonishing. If you loved your children, you wouldn't have engaged in criminal conduct in the first place, but you certainly wouldn't have engaged in the conduct that sent you out of state."
