<em> Cameron Turner Photo of Detective-Sergeant Reuben Roach and Narcotics Detective Michael Purdy escorting Cabral into Norwich City Court following his initial arrest. </em>

NORWICH – The man accused of robbing prescription narcotics from a local pharmacy in the City of Norwich back in April, 2016, will be spending the next two and a half to five years behind bars after he was sentenced in Chenango County Court on Friday, Aug. 19.

Jeffrey S. Cabral, 27, originally from Rhode Island, but with an address in the Town of South New Berlin, appeared back in court on Friday for a plea and sentencing arrangement. Cabral stood charged with one count of robbery in the third degree, a class D felony; and one count of petit larceny, a class A misdemeanor.

These charges stem from an alleged incident that occurred on Apr. 4, 2016. On that date, the Norwich Police Department received a call from the Chenango County Sheriff's Office 911 Center at approximately 11:10 a.m. It was reported that a subject was demanding prescription narcotics from a pharmacy in Norwich. According to police, as NPD officers were being dispatched, the 911 Center received several more calls reporting the same incident. It was initially reported the suspect may have been armed with a handgun, but this was later determined not to be true.

It was alleged that Cabral entered the establishment, passed a threatening note to the cashier and demanded the prescription narcotics. After Cabral received the narcotics, he attempted to flee the scene.

According to the NPD, several minutes after the initial report, a citizen called the 911 Center and reported they were following the suspect’s vehicle. The unnamed citizen stayed on the phone with the 911 Center and continued to report locations and directions of travel, which allowed a New York State Trooper to locate Cabral and his vehicle on Ranch Lane, near Sunset Drive, in the Town of South New Berlin. With a variety of additional law enforcement officers on the scene, Cabral was eventually taken into custody roughly 40-minutes after being located.

In an agreed upon disposition with the Chenango County District Attorney's Office, Cabral elected to enter a plea of guilty to the top charge of robbery in the third degree, a class D felony.

Proceedings began with The Honorable Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr. reading Cabral his rights, before elocuting the top count. After Cabral entered his plea of guilty, Judge Revoir and First Assistant District Attorney Michael D. Ferrarese entered some further colloquy with the defendant.

Judge Revoir asked Cabral how he entered the premises, to which Cabral replied, “I walked in the back door.” Revoir then asked what the note that Cabral passed to the cashier said. Cabral replied, “In vague terms, (it said) what medications I was looking for. I said what I wanted, that I was just trying to get medications. I was not in my right mind when this occurred.”

Ferrarese then asked the defendant, “Did you threaten that you would injure them (the cashier) if they did not give you the medications?” Cabral said that he did not remember. Ferrarese continued, “Did you say to the cashier 'don't be a hero'?” Cabral admitted that he did say that to the cashier.