LA CRESCENTA : Not Guilty Pleas Entered in Drug Case
A Crescenta Valley Little League coach and his girlfriend pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges they sold cocaine out of their La Crescenta home, authorities said.
Michael Joseph Benedetto, 38, and Shannon Burris, 31, entered their pleas during arraignment before Pasadena Superior Court Judge Thomas W. Stoever, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Rash.
A Sept. 28 pretrial conference was scheduled. Both defendants are free on $50,000 bond each.
The two were charged June 3 with one felony count each of possessing cocaine for sale. If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison, Rash said.
The arrests were made May 27, after Glendale police served a search warrant at the defendants’ home in the 2600 block of Altura Avenue. Court documents showed that an unidentified informant contacted police and agreed to make a drug buy with Benedetto using money supplied by investigators.
During the search of the home, investigators seized from a bedroom safe two ounces of cocaine, valued at $9,000 on the street, along with various drug paraphernalia.
Since February, Benedetto has been one of three coaches for a T-ball team for 7- and 8-year-old boys and girls and a softball team for 13- to 15-year-old girls in the Crescenta Valley Little League. He is on temporary suspension pending the outcome of his criminal case.
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