Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Colton Samuel Carl Fontecchio sits with his attorney, Anna Talaska, in Gogebic County Court Thursday. Fontecchio pleaded guilty to two drug charges. Also participating in the hearing was Gogebic County Prosecutor Nick Jacobs, right.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Bessemer - An Ironwood man pleaded guilty to drug charges in Gogebic County Circuit Court Thursday.
Colton Samuel Carl Fontecchio, 23, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and operating while impaired as part of a plea agreement that will have two additional misdemeanors dismissed at sentencing. The agreement also calls for a county jail cap in the case, which would limit Fontecchio's sentence to less than one year.
The possession charge is a 10-year felony, while operating while impaired is a misdemeanor, with a potential maximum sentence of 93 days in jail.
Operating with a suspended or revoked license-second offense and operating while intoxicated misdemeanors are to be dismissed at sentencing, according to the agreement.
The charges stem from a Nov. 12 traffic stop.
Fontecchio said he was driving in Ironwood when he was stopped by Ironwood Public Safety Department Sgt. Matt Sterbenz and was arrested for driving without a license.
Fontecchio testified Sterbenz found between two-tenths and four-tenths of a gram of meth in his car and that he had used meth prior to driving. He said he had been using the drug for around five years.
Fontecchio is scheduled to be sentenced March 20.
