Ex-deputy pleads guilty to several drug charges

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The prosecutor seeks a two-year prison term.

YOUNGSTOWN — A former Mahoning County deputy sheriff has pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking and three counts of drug possession, all third-degree felonies.

Michael S. "Beef" Terlecky, 51, of Leffingwell Road, Canfield, entered his plea Friday before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Sentencing will be at 10 a.m. March 29. Terlecky remains free on bond.

The prosecution agreed to drop four fourth-degree felony counts in the plea agreement and recommended a two-year prison sentence, said Robert E. Duffrin, assistant county prosecutor. Terlecky was originally indicted on seven counts of drug trafficking and four counts of drug possession. The alleged offenses occurred between April 7 and Aug. 29, 2003.

The trafficking charges stemmed from undercover buys of the painkiller OxyContin, which occurred mostly along U.S. Route 224, and the possession charges stemmed from his having Oxycodone (the active ingredient in OxyContin) and Valium in his residence when authorities raided it and arrested him Aug. 29, 2003, Duffrin said.

In ill health

The long delay and multiple postponements of the plea hearing occurred because of Terlecky's ill health and because Terlecky had been taking post-surgery pain medication that could have affected his decision-making, Duffrin said.

Terlecky's lawyer, Don L. Hanni, said he is calling for probation because of Terlecky's ill health. Terlecky was selling some of the drugs prescribed for him to pay for his medical and other living expenses, Hanni said.

Terlecky pleaded guilty in 1990 to taking mob bribes while a lieutenant in the sheriff's office. He had been indicted in April 1988, a month after going on disability leave from the sheriff's department. He served about eight months in prison for the federal bribery charge. He has professed his innocence in recent years.

Saturday, February 3, 2007