18-YEAR-OLD GETS BREAK IN DRUG SENTENCE

WEST PALM BEACH -- Maybe Alexandria Severino is lucky that Circuit
Judge Jorge Labarga is the father of two daughters only a bit older
than her.

On Wednesday, Labarga gave Severino, who turned 18 last week, a huge
break, sentencing her to six years of probation and withholding
adjudication on the three felony drug trafficking charges to which she
had just pleaded guilty.

That means she will have no felony convictions on her
record.

Labarga refused to accept an initial plea bargain that would have left
Severino with a criminal record.

"I'm not going to adjudicate this young girl," he said. "An
adjudication would ruin her life."

Severino, who attended West Boca High School, and her then-boyfriend,
Matthew Hanyecz, 19, of Boca Raton, were charged last summer with
multiple counts of trafficking in drugs. His case is still active.

Severino pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in ecstasy and
one count of trafficking in hydrocodone.

A fourth count was dropped as part of the plea deal.

The four trafficking charges stemmed from four separate transactions
on four different days in which a confidential informant and
undercover officers bought pills from Severino.

Each charge carried a minimum mandatory sentence of three years and a
maximum of 30 years in prison. Labarga sentenced Severino as a
youthful offender.

Severino's father, Frank, said after his daughter's arrest that she
had been using the potent painkiller OxyContin at the time, but that
he was unaware she was selling drugs to support her habit. The single
dad accompanied his daughter to court.

The judge told Alexandria Severino he and the state attorney's office
"are sticking our necks out for you." He lectured her on the
importance of meeting all conditions of her probation in order to
avoid prison time.

One of those conditions is that she have no contact with Hanyecz, who
Labarga called "the boyfriend from hell."

He admonished Severino: "He does not exist, do you understand that?"

She said she did.

Severino must pay more than $1,700 in court and prosecution costs and
is prohibited from possessing or using drugs not prescribed for her.
She will undergo random drug testing. And she will have to testify
truthfully, if required, against others.

Assistant State Attorney Caroline Shepherd, who called Hanyecz "the
more culpable party" declined to say whether Severino might have to
testify against anybody other than him.