DRUG SELLER SENTENCED TO 8 YEARS OR BOOT CAMP

MCHENRY -- A 26-year-old McHenry man was sentenced to 8 years in prison
Thursday for delivering cocaine to an undercover officer with the North
Central Narcotics Task Force.

McHenry County Circuit Judge Thomas A. Schermerhorn also said he would
recommend Matthew Orlando of the 5000 block of South Wildwood Drive for the
Illinois Department of Corrections' boot-camp program. The judge said,
however, that he could not guarantee that Orlando would be accepted.

Orlando was arrested May 28 after delivering between 1 to 2.5 grams of
cocaine to an undercover officer on six occasions between February and May
at a family-owned business in McHenry.

During the hearing, Orlando said he started selling the drugs because he
"took a wrong turn in life."

"Were you getting greedy?" Schermerhorn asked.

"No, it was just the crowd I was hanging out with," Orlando said.

Defense attorney John Gaffney said the sentence was a "fair disposition" of
the case and noted that Orlando had already completed an outpatient drug
treatment program before being sentenced.

McHenry County Assistant State's Atty. Philip Prossnitz said Orlando had no
prior arrests as either a juvenile or an adult.

"Who knows his motivation to do this?" Prossnitz said. "But his own usage of
cocaine seems to be sporadic and not very recent."