FORTY SIX YEAR OLD REPEAT OFFENDER SENTENCED TO 17 ½ YEARS TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR YET ANOTHER BURGLARY CONVICTION

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a judge imposed a stiff sentence of 17 ½ years to life imprisonment on a forty six year old Bronx man who was convicted last month of burglary and possession of stolen property.

George Martinez, of 1057 White Plains Road, the Bronx, was found guilty of one count of Burglary in the 2nd degree and one count of Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the 4th degree. State Supreme Court Justice Dominick Massaro imposed a sentence of up to life imprisonment as a result of the defendant’s status as a mandatory persistent violent felony offender. Martinez was convicted of another burglary in 1995 and illegal gun possession in 1992.

The crime for which Martinez was sentenced today occurred on March 14, 2006 at 1580 Thierot Avenue, the Bronx. Martinez broke into a fourth floor apartment through a window next to the fire escape and stole jewelry as well as a safe that contained the tenant’s a passport, immigration card, birth certificate and social security card. Martinez was later arrested after pawning a gold cross that he had taken from the apartment. Detectives obtained a copy of the defendant’s ID from the pawnbroker and went to his home where they recovered the stolen safe, passport and other documents that belonged to the victim.

Assistant District Attorney April Cohen prosecuted the case.