CLEARFIELD – A former Florida man accused of selling drugs and breaking into a home to retrieve stolen money received a lengthy state prison sentence Tuesday.
Brandon Allen Patino, 34, currently an inmate of the Clearfield County Jail, pleaded guilty to robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, former convict not to possess firearms, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced him to serve a total of eight to 16 years in state prison.
The charges stem from incidents in DuBois May 27, 2015 and Kittanning a month later.
Police had been tipped off that Patino was selling drugs out of his West Long Avenue apartment in DuBois, according to information filed with the criminal complaint.
A search warrant was executed on the residence but Patino was not at home. In June of 2015, Patino was involved in a home invasion in Kittanning where he confronted a woman he claimed had stolen money and drugs from him.
At the preliminary hearing, Cpl. Randy Young of the DuBois City police testified that he received information from a confidential informant who wanted to file a complaint against Patino. This informant claimed Patino had both drugs and weapons at his residence in DuBois. Because of his prior criminal history, Patino was not permitted to possess a firearm, Young said.
A search warrant was obtained for the residence and on May 27, 2015 the warrant was executed on the apartment. Officers found drug paraphernalia, Western Union receipts and a safe.
An additional warrant was obtained for the safe. Inside they found $15,000 in cash, and three weapons: a 50 caliber rifle with scope, a 22 caliber rifle with the barrel and stock sawed off, and a 40 caliber handgun with the serial number rubbed off.
Karli Chambers, one of Patino’s co-defendants, testified regarding her relationship with Patino and the home invasion.
She said he was living at a men’s shelter in Punxsutawney in late 2014 when the relationship began. He started receiving methamphetamine in the mail and he asked her if she would help sell it, she stated. The source for the drug in California was a jail inmate.
She got a call from Patino, who said a woman had robbed him by taking all his meth and his money. He wanted to get it back. They eventually learned she was staying at a home in Kittanning.
Chambers got a 22 caliber rifle from her father’s house. They contacted Joseph Mazza, who went with him to the residence. The two men put on bandanas, she said, and she left them out of their vehicle near the home. She waited for a while before she followed them into the house.
When she entered she saw one victim lying on the floor with Mazza pointing a gun at him. Patino was pointing his gun at everyone and telling them to shut up.
Chambers admitted she hit the woman victim “about 10 times” in the face. When she asked her where the drugs and money were, she claimed she had been robbed.
Patino kicked the woman a few times and put a gun to her head asking her if she was “ready to die.”
Chambers testified that she told Patino that was enough and the gun went off once, into the ceiling.
Before they left, she pulled the phone lines out and took the victims’ cell phones.
The trio removed the woman’s purse and a wallet belonging to a male victim. The purse only had a few bricks of heroin and no cash, she said.
For the complete hearing story click here.