Plymouth man gets 38 to 76 months for stealing detective’s ballistics vest, other charges

Junior Leadership Wilkes-Barre chooses four MMI students

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A Weatherly man may spend up to a decade in prison on burglary and theft charges.James Robert Fairchild, 39, was sentenced Aug. 14 in Luzerne County Court to four to 10 years in a state correctional institution on six sets of burglary and theft charges dating back largely to 2012, according to court papers. Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky credited the man for 439 days served.Court documents indicate Fairchild was accepted in 2013 into drug treatment court, a county program which offers offenders whose addictions drive their criminal behavior a chance to get clean and possibly to have charges against them dismissed provided they complete treatment programs and do not re-offend.Fairchild, however, pleaded guilty the same day he was sentenced to breaking into a Hazle Township home in November. A criminal complaint says Fairchild was also arrested for another burglary in Scranton around the same time.Court records indicate he pleaded guilty in December in Lackawanna County Court to a misdemeanor count of theft and was sentenced to one two years behind bars.Fairchild&#8217;s Luzerne County sentence runs consecutive to any other sentence he is serving, court papers say.He must pay $825 in court costs and fees stemming from his time in treatment court, according to court documents, and make restitution of $42,396.The county&#8217;s drug court program purports to have saved the county more than $5 million since its inception in 2006. As of October it has &#8220;graduated&#8221; 144 participants.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By James O&#8217;Malleyjomalley@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</shirttailMeta></div>

Weatherly man sentenced to 4 to 10 years for string of burglaries, thefts