Euclid man gets 5 years for Painesville robbery

A 24-year-old Euclid man was sentence to five years in prison on burglary charges.

A 24-year-old Euclid man was sentenced to five years in prison on a burglary charge stemming from an April 9 incident on Nebraska Street in Painesville.

Dontez Derricot was sentenced Oct. 29 by Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Vincent A. Culotta on a second-degree felony burglary charge that included a firearm specification that carried a mandatory one-year prison sentence.

Derricot was indicted by the Lake County grand jury in July on 10 charges. Those included two first-degree felony aggravated burglary charges, six counts of firstdegree felony kidnapping, second-degree felony felonious assault and a misdemeanor petty theft charge.

Derricot in late September agreed to plead guilty to an amended count of second-degree felony burglary with the firearm specification.

The other charges were waived at sentencing.

“What this boils down is that Mr. Derricot got involved in a situation he shouldn’t have,” said his attorney Cory Hinton. “There was a conflict between two females, both of which Mr. Derricot at some time had relationships with and there was tension and conflict between those two ladies and Mr. Derricot put himself in the middle of that.”

Hinton said that while interfering with the fight, Derricot committed several different crimes. He said he thinks Derricot was acting in the heat of the moment and “did not set out to commit these crimes.”

“He did do wrong and he does acknowledge that,” Hinton said.

Culotta, however, said that he did not think Derricot had genuine remorse for his actions.

“The defendant really minimizes his involvement here,” Culotta said.

Culotta gave Derricot four years in prison for the burglary charge to run consecutive to the mandatory one-year firearm specification. Derricot has 155 days of jail credit.

Hinton asked for a threeyear sentence, the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office recommended no more than five years.

Derricot