100 months for DUII fatality
A Silverton man has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for a DUII collision last year that killed a Keizer teenager.
Gustavo Sosa, 27, pleaded guilty Feb. 1 in Marion County Circuit Court to second-degree manslaughter and hit-and-run for the May 23, 2023, death of Victor Andre Cortez-Andrade, 16. He also pleaded no-contest to DUII.
Sosa was sentenced Feb. 5 to 100 months in prison and 36 months of post-prison supervision.
This plea deal helped him avoid standing trial March 12 for charges including first-degree manslaughter, which carried a minimum of ten years in prison.
Sosa was arrested following a traffic collision May 21, 2023, in Salem when his vehicle rear-ended two other vehicles, one of which was occupied by Cortez-Andrade. Sosa fled the scene then turned himself in the next day.
Cortez-Andrade was hospitalized after the collision and succumbed to his injuries two days later.
Standoff case dropped in DV plea
An Aumsville man arrested in Silverton last fall after a police standoff has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after pleading guilty in a separate domestic violence case.
Steele James Davidson, 30, pleaded guilty Feb. 6 in Marion County Circuit Court to resisting arrest and two counts of first-degree burglary. He had been accused of attempting to hold a woman against her will in March of 2023 at the victim’s residence in Jefferson.
Davidson received 28 months in prison and 36 months of post-prison supervision.
The plea agreement included the dismissal of a charge of attempt to elude a police officer related to the standoff.
Davidson was arrested in Silverton Oct. 25, 2023, after police attempted to contact him in Salem for unlawfully meeting with the victim of the March incident. He fled north on Cascade Highway and once in Silverton hid in the basement of a residence on the 200 block of West Main Street.
During a brief standoff, police used Davidson’s GPS tracker and a K-9 unit to confirm he was in the basement. He was taken into custody without further incident.
Three years for Silverton gun attack
A California man has been sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to shoot another man in Silverton last year.
Gary Rayford Chipman, 45, of Rohnert Park, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 5 in Marion County Circuit Court to unlawful use of a weapon and felon in possession of a firearm. On Feb. 6 he was sentenced to 36 months in prison and 24 months of post-prison supervision.
Chipman was arrested Sept. 9, 2023, after an incident that day in Silverton when he attempted to shoot another man. He was not allowed to possess the weapon due to a 2019 felony conviction out of Butte County, California, for an injury hit-and-run.
Graffitist to pay city $6,000
A former Silverton man has been ordered to pay the City of Silverton nearly $6,000 after completing a deferred sentencing program for a graffiti spree in late 2022.
Roman Lucian Cunningham, 24, of Portland, originally pleaded guilty June 29, 2023, to felony first-degree criminal mischief in Marion County Circuit Court.
On Feb. 9 this was reduced to a misdemeanor after Cunningham completed the terms of his plea agreement, which included 100 hours of community service and an apology letter to the city.
As part of sentencing the court ordered Cunningham to pay the city $5,866 in restitution, and to consent to the destruction of graffiti-related items seized during the investigation.
Cunningham was arrested in December of 2022 after a tagging spree that month targeting Town Square Park, Coolidge McClaine Park, local bridges, road signs and businesses.
— Stephen Floyd
