DA Hoovler Announces Prison Sentence for Burglary of Town of Wallkill Sprint Store

December 6, 2019

DA Hoovler Announces Prison Sentence for
Burglary of Town of Wallkill Sprint Store

Long Island Man Convicted After Jury Trial of Burglary in the Third Degree,
Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Criminal Possession of Stolen
Property in the Third Degree, and Possession of Burglar’s Tools Sentenced
To 3 ½ to 7 Years in State Prison

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that on Wednesday, December 4, 2019, Donald Potter, 32, of Medford, Long Island, was sentenced by Orange County Judge Robert H. Freehill to three and one-half to seven years in state prison in connection with the burglary of the Sprint Store located at 469 Route 211 East in the Town of Wallkill, and the theft and possession of over $40,000 worth of new iPhones.

On October 2, 2019, Potter was convicted after a jury trial in Orange County Court of Burglary in the Third Degree, Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Third Degree, and Possession of Burglar’s Tools. The state prison sentence, which was the maximum allowed under the law for the charges Potter was convicted of, was ordered to run consecutively to a two to four-year prison sentence Potter had received in Westchester County for the crime of Attempted Burglary in the Third Degree. As a result, Potter must serve a combined sentence of five and one-half to eleven years in state prison.

At the trial, prosecutors argued that on October 20, 2018, at approximately 4:35 a.m., Potter and two accomplices entered and remained unlawfully in the Sprint Store with the intent to steal iPhones. Less than an hour later, Potter and his accomplices were found in a vehicle in the City of Port Jervis, in possession of forty-two new iPhones that had been stolen from the store.

District Attorney Hoovler thanked the Town of Wallkill Police Department and City of Port Jervis Police Department for their investigation of the case and their assistance during the prosecution.

“A defendant who commits multiple crimes with accomplices in multiple jurisdictions is clearly deserving of state prison,” said District Attorney David M. Hoovler. “Criminal activity is even more pernicious when it is organized. It is fortunate that the close cooperation and coordination between the various police agencies that investigated the crimes committed by this defendant and his accomplices, and the District Attorney’s Office, ensured that a just result reached.”

District Attorney Hoovler highly commended Assistant District Attorneys Janine Kovacs and Colleen Decker, who prosecuted the case.

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