A Schuylkill County judge on Friday ordered forfeiture to prosecutors of more than $100 found on a Pottsville man found in June 2011 in a West Mahanoy Township motel with materials to manufacture methamphetamine.
Larry T. Wilcox, 48, obtained the $104 through the sale of drugs and must forfeit it, Judge Charles M. Miller ruled after a hearing.
“The court must agree that the commonwealth has met their burden of proof,” Miller said in ordering the forfeiture.
Miller accepted the testimony of Shawn P. Tray, who was township police chief at the time the money was seized, that the cash, drugs and drug paraphernalia indicated the $104 constituted proceeds from the sale of illegal narcotics.
“It’s based on the totality of the circumstances,” Tray said.
Wilcox testified he was a user, not a dealer, and that the money was unemployment compensation.
“If I were a drug dealer, I’d have a lot more than $104,” he said.
However, Wilcox produced no documentation to show the money was from unemployment compensation.
Police seized the money on June 30, 2011, when they arrested Wilcox on June 30, 2011, at Room 18 at Granny’s Motel in Altamont.
Wilcox pleaded guilty on May 17, 2012, to two counts of possession of red phosphorous with intent to manufacture a controlled substance and one each of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Prosecutors withdrew a charge of risking a catastrophe.
Miller originally placed him in the state intermediate punishment program but removed him from it and sentenced him on March 6, 2014, to serve two to four years in a state correctional institution. Wilcox is serving that sentence at SCI/Graterford in Montgomery County, and Miller conducted Friday’s hearing by audioconference.
Also on Friday, Miller revoked the parole of Kenneth E. Leh, 27, of Leesport, and ordered him returned to Berks County Prison.
Leh originally pleaded guilty on Oct. 15, 2014, to theft by deception. At the time, Miller placed him on 12 months probation and also sentenced him to pay costs, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $85 restitution.
State police at Schuylkill Haven charged Leh with committing the theft on Dec. 11, 2013.
However, Miller revoked Leh’s probation on June 12, 2015.
Leh on Friday admitted violating his parole by committing new crimes, possessing drug paraphernalia and not making payments on his costs and fines.