NORWICH – A Norwich woman charged in a $25,000 cocaine bust admitted to being a drug dealer last week and named her alleged co-conspirators in a plea deal with prosecutors.
Twenty-year-old Curissa Jenkins of 31 Hickok Ave., Norwich, appeared distraught in her early December court appearances leading up to last week’s guilty plea. She tearfully argued with attorneys and family members who urged her to cooperate with police as she sat in the Chenango County Supreme Courtroom awaiting an appearance a few weeks ago.
On Dec. 23, Supreme Court Judge Kevin M. Dowd approved a request by Public Defender Alan Gordon that granted Jenkins a temporary release from the Chenango County Correctional Facility, where she was being held on $100,000 cash bail, so she could go home for the holidays. She was ordered to return to jail by Dec. 26. After turning herself back in to authorities, she accepted the plea arrangement.
Jenkins pleaded guilty to fifth degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a D class felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of two and a half years with one year of post release supervision. Jenkins avoided the top charge originally filed against her by Chenango County Sheriff’s investigators, second degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class A-II felony, which could have carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in state prison. Those are charges her one-time boyfriend and alleged co-conspirator, 28-year-old Michael Victor, still faces.
On March 27, the Norwich Police Department, with assistance from the New York State Troopers, Chenango County Sheriff’s Office and the Greene K-9 unit, forced their way into two separate apartments in the City of Norwich at 72 Plymouth St. and 31 Hickok Ave.
Police found Victor and Jenkins at their Hickok Ave. address and discovered a stash of illegal substances and paraphernalia at the Plymouth St. apartment.
Investigators at the time contended that the two kept two separate apartments in the city of Norwich – one where they lived and another allegedly used as a front to store and sell narcotics.
Norwich Police later discovered a storage unit in the Town of Norwich rented in Jenkins’ name. They found a 2004 Mercedes Benz coupe with three loaded firearms inside, a Tec-9 machine pistol with a large capacity magazine, a .357 revolver, a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and $25,000 of wrapped crack cocaine inside the car.
“Ma’am at the time the warrant was executed, who was in the building with you?” asked District Attorney Joseph A. McBride in reference to her original arrest.
Jenkins responded by saying Victor and her little sister were in the home at the time police stormed inside.
