BY DAVID LINTON SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Thursday, May 29, 2008 2:28 AM EDT
ATTLEBORO - A former city man is now serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking charges in an undercover probe that ended in one of the city's largest drug seizures.
Joseph Luthy, 35, formerly of Pike Avenue, pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine and was sentenced to 15 years in prison Tuesday in New Bedford Superior Court by Judge Gary A. Nickerson.
Luthy and his wife, Heather Luthy, were arrested in June 2005 after police stopped them in a pickup truck and raided their home during an undercover drug investigation.
Police say they seized about $3,000 worth of cocaine in the vehicle stop in Plainville, and an estimated $40,000 in cocaine from the house. Police said a total of a kilogram of cocaine was seized.
Joseph Luthy earlier pleaded guilty to similar charges stemming from the Plainville traffic stop and was sentenced to a five- to seven-year prison term. The Plainville case against Heather Luthy, who was a passenger, was dismissed.
Heather Luthy is awaiting trial related to the drug seizure at the home. Some of the cocaine was hidden in false bottoms of potato chip containers and coffee cans, police said.
Cocaine also was found in a shed and in the master bedroom of the home, according to court records and police.
Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, said Luthy received the mandatory minimum sentence for trafficking in more than 200 grams of cocaine.
He said the case was an example of the district attorney's policy of refusing to plea-bargain cases with heavy drug traffickers.
Luthy was faced with the prospect of pleading guilty and serving 15 years in prison, or "we'll bring in the jury and go to trial, and you would be facing more time if you are found guilty," Miliote said.
The case has been pending until now because the couple initially won a court ruling throwing out evidence in the case. But the prosecution appealed, and the state Appeals Court reversed a superior court judge's decision.
The charges were the result of an undercover investigation by Plainville Detective James Floyd and Attleboro detectives Timothy Cook Sr. and Richard Campion.
They were assisted by the Norfolk County Anti-Crime Task Force and agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
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