HOLLIDAYSBURG — A city man who represented himself during a trial-by-court and found guilty on three of the five felony charges against him was sentenced to about 10 to 21 years in prison Friday morning.

President Judge Wade A. Kagarise rendered his verdicts in the trial against Sean Darrell Castaphney, 30, on Aug. 8, following the conclusion of testimony on Aug. 5.

Court documents state that Kagarise found Castaphney guilty of single felony counts of possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine and possession of a firearm prohibited. He found Castaphney not guilty of single felony counts of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl and criminal use of a communication facility.

Prior to sentencing, Blair County District Attorney Pete Weeks asked Kagarise to have Castaphney pay for the cost of prosecution, including at least $2,062 for various crime labs.

Weeks also asked for the sentences Kagarise imposed to be run consecutively rather than concurrently due to Castaphney’s criminal record.

Referring to the pre-sentence investigation, Weeks said Castaphney had undergone four periods of confinement and was arrested 10 times as an adult alone. The most notable, Weeks said, was Castaphney being charged with assault while in the Blair County Prison.

Weeks told Kagarise that Castaphney had accumulated 53 misconducts while in prison. On the outside, he had previous drug arrests, two firearm convictions and an aggravated assault conviction.

“(Castaphney) is not eligible for any program that would shorten his sentence,” Weeks said.

Defense attorney Scott Pletcher, who was appointed as Castaphney’s legal representation at his request for sentencing and any post-sentence motions, asked Kagarise to take Castaphney’s age into consideration as he just turned 30 years old.

He asked for mitigated sentences on all of Castaphney’s charges, pointing to the amount of drugs Castaphney had and the fact that the firearm was not registered to him. Pletcher said the DNA found on the firearm was a mixture, not definitively that of Castaphney.

“This seems to have been a case where he was followed by police after leaving a residence and was stopped,” Pletcher said.

He asked for a sentence of “something in the range of 3 to 6 years,” for the sentences to be concurrent, for Castaphney to receive 32 months credit for time served and for him to be eligible for the state drug treatment program.

Weeks objected to Castaphney’s state drug treatment program eligibility.

When given the opportunity to speak, Castaphney said he wanted to take responsibility for his actions and to get help for his substance abuse.

“I accept how the verdicts went,” Castaphney said.

Before handing down his sentence, Kagarise told Castaphney that he didn’t lack intelligence “so you have the ability to be a productive member of society.”

“It’s only up to you whether you do that or not,” Kagarise said. “You’re still young enough to do some good.”

He said there were some “troubling things” in Castaphney’s criminal history that were “particularly relevant” when crafting a sentence.

“I think a strong sentence here is necessary and I think it’s appropriate,” Kagarise said.

He then sentenced Castaphney to 50 months to 100 months in a state correctional facility for possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, 30 months to 60 months for possession with intent to deliver cocaine and 72 months to 150 months for possession of a firearm prohibited. Kagarise ordered that the methamphetamine and firearm sentences run consecutively to each other while the cocaine sentence runs concurrently for a total sentence of 122 months to 250 months.

Castaphney will also serve a period of 12 months’ re-entry and must pay $600 in fines, as well as the cost of prosecution. He was given a payment schedule of seven years upon release.

The charges were brought against Castaphney in mid-February 2023 when Altoona police took him into custody on two felony drug warrants.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.