Saratoga County District Attorney Karen A. Heggen announced that Laurie M. Cannelli, AKA Laurie M. Kelleher (DOB: 09-08-64), of 425 Franklin Plaza, Ballston Spa, NY, was sentenced today in Saratoga County Court to 12 years in prison and 5 years of post-release supervision for her conviction of Burglary in the Second Degree, in violation of section 140.25(1) of the New York State Penal Law, a class “C” Violent Felony, and 8 years in prison and 3 years of post-release supervision for her conviction of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 4th, in violation of section 220.09(1) of the New York State Penal Law, a class “C” felony, by Saratoga County Court Judge James A. Murphy, III. The two sentences will run concurrently.
Cannelli previously pleaded guilty and admitted that on March 10, 2017 she and her co-defendants acted in concert and unlawfully entered a home with the intent to assault the resident. As a result of their actions during the commission of the burglary, the resident of the home suffered physical injury. Additionally, on October 29, 2016 she unlawfully possessed more than an eighth of an ounce of cocaine.
District Attorney Heggen stated that Cannelli was the final co-defendant to be sentenced with regard to the Milton home invasion, which Heggen noted was not a random attack, but rather a drug-involved crime. The police investigation revealed that Cannelli was the ringleader who organized and directed the involvement of her co-defendants Timothy Sims, Linda Sims and Arthur Brust, Jr. regarding the home-invasion burglary. All three co-defendants were previously sentenced with regard to their involvement in the burglary.
Assistant District Attorney Charles Bucca prosecuted the Burglary case and First Assistant District Attorney Alan Poremba prosecuted the cocaine possession case. District Attorney Heggen commented that “this significant twelve-year prison sentence was sought because of the seriousness of the offenses, as well as taking into account the lengthy criminal history the defendant has amassed both in New York State and other states throughout the country.”