A city man who had a handgun stolen from state Sen. Marty Flynn in his possession during a 2021 traffic stop will spend up to eight years in state prison.
Pedro Raymond Santiago, 25, was sentenced Wednesday by Lackawanna County Judge Andy Jarbola to 48 to 96 months behind bars for his April 11 guilty plea to possession of a firearm prohibited.
Members of the city police Street Crimes Unit arrested Santiago on Aug. 10, 2021, during a traffic stop on Lafayette Street. Inside the car, officers found two grams of marijuana and a .357-caliber SIG Sauer P-229 at Santiago’s feet.
Santiago, who was barred from possessing a gun because of a 2017 felony criminal trespass conviction, admitted the marijuana belonged to him but denied having the weapon, according to police.
Investigators said the gun was the same one Flynn, D-22, Dunmore, reported stolen from his vehicle July 28, 2021, and then used five days later during a shooting at Valley View Terrace in South Scranton.
Standing before Jarbola, Santiago declined to address the court before sentencing.
His attorney, Ryan Barrett, told the judge Santiago’s criminal history complicated any requests for leniency. However, he said the defendant’s record included no crimes of violence or malice and was the result of poor decision-making.
In handing down the sentence, Jarbola noted Santiago’s 2017 conviction also involved possession of a firearm.
“He didn’t learn his lesson there,” the judge told Barrett.
The theft of the .357 from Flynn’s vehicle, which was parked outside the West Scranton home where the senator lived at the time, remains an open case, and no arrests have been made.
Investigators later identified the weapon as the one used in the Aug. 2, 2021, shooting at Valley View. In that incident, police charged Alamin Woods, then 17, with firing eight shots at Jesus Maldonado, hitting him six times.
Woods was sentenced last July to 9 1/2 to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted homicide. Jonathan Diaz, who acted as Woods’ getaway driver, received a sentence of 16 months to five years in state prison for conspiracy.