Judge: Prison term for violation of plea deal

STAMFORD — A 20year-old Norwalk man accepted a deal in 2018 to avoid prison time for purposely setting a fire inside a Norwalk CVS. But prosecutors now say he violated that agreement.

Yahya Sonko, 20, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless burning and agreed to attend counseling sessions and stay out of trouble, prosecutors said.

But in a hearing Thursday in state Superior Court, Paul Ferencek, state’s attorney for the Stamford/ Norwalk Judicial District, says Sonko violated the terms of that deal. He was arrested two more times and failed to show up to court multiple times between the time he accepted the deal and the date of his sentencing, Ferencek said.

In 2018, Sonko was arrested and charged with starting a fire at the CVS on Connecticut Avenue, where he was supposed to be volunteering as part of the Life Bridge program, which helps troubled youths rehabilitate and learn work skills.

Under a plea deal accepted in August 2018, Sonko pleaded guilty to reckless burning, which was reduced from the original arson charge. In return, he was to receive a three-year suspended sentence and three years of probation.

Months after agreeing to the deal, Sonko was arrested in New York on a weapons violation charge stemming from a 21-mile car chase in a stolen car, prosecutors said. He later pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to one year in the New York penal system.

Then in February, he was arrested again on an outstanding warrant from Danbury, prosecutors said. This time he was charged with home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, first-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny in an incident from October 2018, prosecutors said.

Given the circumstances, Judge Gary White said the court was within its right to sentence Sonko to up to five years in prison for violating the terms of the agreement.

In the court hearing on Thursday, Sonko made one final plea before his sentencing. He said the arrests stemmed from “past issues” when he was young and “naïve.”

“I’m just trying to get it all resolved. I’m grown now, I’m 20 years old, and I’m just trying turn a new leaf and move on with my life,” said Sonko, who further said he “had evidence” that would lead to an acquittal in the Danbury case.

Sonko’s attorney, public defender Howard Ehring, asked White to stick to deal and give his client a threeyear suspended sentence along with three years of probation.

Ultimately, White settled on a three-year prison sentence for Sonko.

“I know the defendant is asking for the suspended sentence and probation, but I don’t think that’s appropriate,” White said.

The sentencing marks the end of Sonko’s Stamford case, but his case in Danbury is still pending.

Sonko is next scheduled to appear in court on May

12.