Tylee Demetrius "Love" Gaines, 37, of Waverly Place, Rochester, was sentenced this afternoon to the maximum possible of eight years in prison after previously accepting a plea deal on a single felony charge of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
He was arrested in January and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, unlawful possession of marijuana, two counts of aggravated unlicensed operation, obstructed view and unlicensed operator.
His arrest was the result of a traffic stop on Ross Street in the City of Batavia for having an obstructed view. He was found to be driving on a suspended license, then at BPD headquarters was found in possesssion of marijuana and several small bags of crack cocaine. He was jailed without bail.
As part of a plea agreement with the District Attorney's Office, the other charges were dropped. The range of his potential prison term was pared from two to 12 years, to one and a half to eight years. District Attorney Lawrence Friedman argued for the maximum under the agreed upon cap of eight years, citing the defendant's lengthy criminal history.
"This defendant is a career drug dealer," Friedman said, noting Gaines has served four prison terms already and has been released on parole seven times, violating parole every single time.
His propensity for drug dealing is "persistent," with six convictions for criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.
The attorney for Gaines, Thomas Burns, told Acting Genesee County Court Judge Michael F. Pietruszka that his client is the father of two 6-year-olds and admits he has a history of "substance abuse issues." "Piggy-backing" on that are crimes of providing drugs for others to buy and having a stash so he could support his own habit.
Burns asked the judge to consider sentencing his client to the "mid to minimum range."
When asked if he had anything to say, the orange-jumpsuited and shackled Gaines, who's a big guy -- about 6'4" and 250 pounds -- said softly: "My drug use and history's been going on a long time since I was young. I apologize to the court."
Burns said his client wanted it noted for the record that "he denies having contact with Officer Richards." According to a Batavia PD report, Batavia Police Officer Chad Richards is one who pulled Gaines over at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 7, on Ross Street in the city for having an obstructed view.
The denial was duly noted.
Judge Pietruszka then said that Gaines is a second felony offender for sentencing purposes and handed down the maximum of eight years in prison, to be followed by three years of post-release supervision.
