NORWICH – A 33-year-old Syracuse woman charged in connection with convicted cocaine dealer Richard Tyler will spend six months in the county’s correctional facility and face five years of probation after violating the terms of her release.
Semajdanyell Baker, one of three individuals accused of trafficking cocaine from Syracuse to Chenango County, was charged last week with aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance – a class A misdemeanor – following a routine traffic stop in the Syracuse region. When searched, police allegedly discovered a set of scales in Baker’s pocketbook, which had a suspicious white residue on them. When field-tested, the white substance was identified as cocaine.
According to Baker’s attorney, Frank Revoir, Baker planned to sell the scales to an unidentified Syracuse pawn shop. His client, he added, had tested negative for any illegal substances since her original sentencing. Baker was recently sentenced to one year in Onondaga County Treatment Court.
The good part, said Judge W. Howard Sullivan, is that Baker had tested clean. It should be obvious, however, that the scales should not be sold to a pawn shop and put back into circulation, but turned over to authorities, he added. He reminded Baker that, once released, she could face up to two and a half years in state prison if she were to violate the terms of her probation.
District Attorney Joseph McBride said he found Baker’s story hard to believe and that possession of scales was indicative that Baker is either using or selling drugs.
Tyler is currently serving a five-year sentence in state prison.