Utsey gutsy, but may see inside of jail
Published 12:00 am Friday, May 2, 2003
James &uot;Chuck&uot; Utsey was sentenced to 10 years Thursday afternoon &045;&045; but he might not spend one day in jail.
Utsey, 34, of Selma, appeared before Circuit Court Judge Marvin Wiggins for five counts of attempted theft of property. Dallas County District Attorney Ed Greene said Utsey had already pled guilty to two felony counts of attempted theft of property.
Wiggins, though, handed down a 10-year suspended sentence with five years probation on the condition Utsey spends 18 months in jail. However, the jail time was suspended contingent on Utsey repaying his victims.
At that time a determination will be made if any compensation has occurred.
The counts against Utsey stem from car sales in 2000 and 2001. In one case, the victim stated he brought his car to Utsey hoping Utsey would sell it for him. Utsey sold the vehicle, but no money was ever given to the victim from that sale.
Another case involved Utsey selling three vehicles with existing finance agreements to a local telephone company. Those agreements later defaulted.
Concerning the counts against him, Utsey stated he got behind financially and ended up in debt, making him unable to deliver titles to some of the cars he had sold.