SUNBURY - A felony drug defendant must wait up to another 10 days to learn if he'll be released from Northumberland County Prison on nominal bail.
Esteven R. Soto, 30, of 1752 Walton Ave., 6A, Bronx, N.Y., remains in Northumberland County Prison on $250,000 bail. He's been held since Feb. 9, the day after he was arrested, while police investigated the shooting of a Milton woman.
Guns and drugs were allegedly found inside a Mount Carmel apartment where Soto was staying with Rafael A. Diroche Jr., 29, of 250 S. Poplar St., Apt. 3. Soto is charged with three felony counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, one felony count of illegally possessing a firearm, and three misdemeanor counts of possession of controlled substances.
Neither he, Diroche nor anyone else has been charged in the shooting of Salicia Yost. State police at Stonington have offered no information publicly on the status of the investigation.
Barring exceptions, criminal defendants are eligible for release on pending charges after 180 days. Soto would have been up for release Aug. 9. Delays due to continuances and petitions in his case added time, and just how much time was disputed during a bail hearing Wednesday before Judge Charles H. Saylor at the Northumberland County Courthouse.
John Broda, public defender, told the court that Soto was eligible for release Sept. 20. That adds an additional 42 days to his term that weren't disputed. He denied, however, that Soto was subject to additional time due to a habeas corpus petition.
William Cole, assistant district attorney, said Soto wasn't due for release until Oct. 13, an additional 64 days. He cited the habeas corpus petition, along with the continuance of a preliminary hearing and an omnibus pretrial hearing. He asked the judge to deny early release, citing the severity of the pending charges and his out-of-state connections.
Saylor said he would issue a ruling within 10 days.
A passer-by found Yost early Feb. 8 alone inside a 2013 Chevy Sonic with Ohio registration that appeared to have crashed into a snow pile along Irish Valley Road, three miles north of Shamokin. After the bullet wound was confirmed with police, an attempted homicide investigation was launched.
Diroche and Yost were in contact with each other through text messaging in the hours leading up to the shooting. They were texting about meeting up and specifically spoke of "being on Irish Valley Road" minutes before Yost was discovered about 5:30 a.m., according to a police affidavit.
Diroche remains in Northumberland County Prison on $300,000 bail. He's charged with six counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, six counts of illegal possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm without a license, receiving stolen property and criminal use of a communication facility, all of which are felonies. He's also charged with misdemeanors of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.