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A Valley Springs man arrested after a police pursuit Tuesday morning pleaded not guilty Thursday to various drug related charges. Eric Sosa, 33, is charged with possession of nearly a half-ounce of methamphetamine packaged for sale, evading arrest with disregard for public safety, illegal possession of the prescription painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Sosa was released from state prison Feb. 5 to the supervision of the Calaveras County Probation Department under the “public safety realignment” instituted by AB 109 signed into law last year, according to a Sheriff’s Office statement released Wednesday. Statistics provided during a presentation at Tuesday’s county Board of Supervisors meeting show it is the sixth arrest among a population of 17 such “AB 109ers” in the county.
Court proceedings Thursday revealed Sosa went to prison in January 2007 after a conviction for possession of a dangerous weapon and drugs. He faces a maximum of seven years and four months in state prison and a year in county jail if convicted on all new counts. Sosa told Assigned Judge Douglas Mewhinney he is unemployed and the judge appointed a public defender to represent him on the new charges. Chief Public Defender Scott Gross entered the not guilty plea and Mewhinney set bail at $52,500. A preliminary hearing is scheduled in the case for 2 p.m. April 26. Calaveras County Sheriff’s deputies had attempted to make a vehicle enforcement stop at about 10 a.m. near California and Daphne streets on a pickup driven by Sosa, due to an expired registration. The truck sped up and was pursued through Paloma, a Sheriff’s Department news release stated. During the pursuit, a man later identified as Jeremy Davis, 34, of Tracy, jumped from the moving vehicle, police said. The pursuit wound its way back toward Valley Springs, where it stopped due to a mechanical failure of the truck. Davis was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor resisting arrest. Sheriff’s Department officials said a search of Sosa’s home resulted in more arrests, including a Stockton woman, Iran Cortes, 30, who was allegedly found in possession of medical and Social Security records containing the personal information of up to 80 people. |