Aiiden Gibbons of Hampshire County, MA sentenced to 2 years jail and mandated to 3 years of AA or NA as aftercare. - Aug. 2012

Aiiden Gibbons, 27 of Amherst in Hampshire County, Massachusetts pleaded guilty to 11 counts of theft and received a sentences of 2 years in the Hampshire Jail and House of Correction with aftercare to consist of 3 years mandated to either Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). Mr. Gibbons aftercare for his crimes if he chooses the cult of AA will be in the Western Mass Intergroup,Western Mass Alcoholics Anonymous Service Area 31 and he can find his required meetings at http://www.westernmassaa.org/ upon release. If Mr. Gibbons chooses the cult of Narcotics Anonymous he can find his required meetings at the Central Massachusetts Area of Narcotics Anonymous website at http://www.centralmassna.org/. It is believed that both AA and NA in Massachusetts use the Hampshire Jail and House of Correction as a recruitment facility for their respective cults and "correction committees" routinely send missionaries to facility to get them ready for their aftercare in the anonymous rooms of AA and NA.

Amherst man Aiiden Gibbons sentenced to jail for thefts

By BOB DUNN STAFF WRITER
Gazette Contributing Writer

Friday, August 24, 2012

NORTHAMPTON - An Amherst man accused of fueling his heroin habit by pawning stolen items pleaded guilty to 11 charges connected to those thefts in Hampshire Superior Court Friday.

Aiiden Gibbons, 27, of 165 Summer St., was sentenced to two years in the Hampshire Jail and House of Correction, followed by three years of probation by Judge Richard J. Carey.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Thomas was seeking a three- to five-year state prison sentence for Gibbons.

Thomas said that the state was seeking a harsh sentence, despite Gibbons having no prior record, partly because of manipulative tactics he used to gain the trust of some of his victims before he stole from them. Thomas also pointed that out Gibbons continued to steal even after being arrested on burglary and larceny charges on Sept. 17, 2001 and released following his arraignment.

"The lure of heroin spoke more to him then the threat of incarceration," Thomas said in court Friday.

Gibbons' attorney, Alan Rubin of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, asked Carey to consider sentencing Gibbons to county jail instead, claiming that there would be better addiction treatment and counseling for his client there than in state prison.

Gibbons pleaded guilty to three counts of breaking and entering in the daytime with the intent to commit a felony, five counts of larceny over $250 and one count each of wanton destruction of property under $250, possession of a burglary instrument - a blunt knife - and larceny under $250.

In court, Gibbons admitted to thefts and burglaries in Amherst in 2011, including stealing a bicycle and iPod touch music player in two incidents at the Mill Hollow apartment complex in June. He admitted to taking electronics from his mother's home on Sept. 15 and stealing a flat-screen television and jewelry in one burglary on East Hadley Road and attempting another on Sand Hill Road on Sept. 17. In addition, he admitted to stealing a camera and bedding on Oct. 1 from a couple on Montague Road, who allowed him to sleep on their porch and fed him when he told them he had no place to go.

Following his release from jail, Gibbons will be on probation for three years, during which time, he must: complete a level-three community corrections program for substance abusers; remain drug- and alcohol-free and submit to random screenings; attend counseling; attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings three times per week for the first year of probation; pay $1,375 in restitution to the victims; write letters of explanation and apology to those victims; attend mental health counseling; take any and all prescribed medications and seek and maintain employment.

Gibbons received credit for 317 days of time served while awaiting trial.

Source: http://www.gazettenet.com/2012/08/24/amherst-man-sentenced-to-jail-for-t...