Domingo Cardona pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of more than 5 ounces of cocaine

Domingo Cardona, 30, has been imprisoned since Sept. 21, 2006, when parole officer Sterling Wheeler found a marijuana bud in the freezer of his home at 27-1/2 Gilman St., during a routine, but surprise, visit.Wheeler arrested Cardona, and a subsequent, more thorough search turned up about $30,000 cash, bundled up and stashed inside a cell phone box; a 500 gram brick of cocaine in a duffle bag under a pile of clothes; and bags, scales and another $4,270 in cash elsewhere in the apartment.Cardona was on parole after pleading guilty to cocaine possession and sales charges in 2004, court records show. Cardona also had prior drug convictions in Rhode Island at the time.Cardona admitted to possession and six sales of cocaine, and was given several consecutive sentences totaling 5-1/2 to 27 years on Aug. 9, 2004, court records show. He was released to home confinement, with an electronic monitoring bracelet less than a year later, on July 1, 2005, however.Cardona moved back into the same apartment, and apparently picked up where he'd left off.On Monday, he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of more than 5 ounces of cocaine with the intent to sell, and was sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison.
He and his lawyer, Adam Bernstein, also agreed with state prosecutors Brian Graf and Jane Young that 2-1/2 years of his previous, suspended sentence would be imposed, with credit for time served since his arrest.

Sean Brown charges carry a maximum of 7-1/2 to 15 years in prison

Sean Brown, 34, formerly of 49 Worcester St., has been jailed since his arrest soon after the sales of drugs.Brown was first tried and convicted in 2006, but the state Supreme Court overturned that conviction, finding that the four sales should have been tried separately. Brown was tried on all four sales last week, however, under a newer law allowing related crimes to be handled in a single trial.
The jury Friday convicted Brown, who had acted as his own lawyer; his sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
The charges carry a maximum of 7-1/2 to 15 years in prison because of Brown's prior drug convictions. Judge William Groff had originally sentenced Brown to 3-1/2 to seven years in prison, but the state Sentence Review Board raised his sentence to five to 14 years.Because that conviction was reversed, however, Brown will now face sentencing anew.