Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Friday, May 09, 2008

Convicted drug dealer accused of selling again

By Kevin Behr / Winona Daily News

A convicted drug dealer is accused of selling cocaine in Winona a month after he was released from prison.

Antonio Bracy, 31, was charged Thursday with five counts of felony cocaine sales. The most serious charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine because of previous drug convictions on his record.

Bracy was convicted of drug racketeering in 1998 after police found about 40 grams of crack cocaine in his apartment. He eventually won an appeal on that case and was released from prison in 2003. According to court records, he was selling cocaine within two months of that release. He was convicted of third-degree cocaine sales and was sentenced to prison in 2004.

Less than a month after being released from that sentence in March this year, he was selling cocaine again, Assistant Winona County Attorney Nancy Bostrack said.

According to police, Bracy sold 1.64 grams of cocaine to a police informant April 8. He sold another 3.15 grams of cocaine to an informant Tuesday and was arrested in the area of Fourth and Liberty streets at 5:25 p.m.

Bostrack asked for unconditional bail only because Bracy simply can’t comply with conditions of release. Judge Mary Leahy set that bail at $80,000.

Bracy remained in custody at the Winona County Jail as of Thursday afternoon. He is scheduled to return to court May 22.

Domestic charges

Jason Paul Mullen, 25, was charged Thursday with first-degree burglary, damage to property and violating a domestic abuse no-contact order for the third time in about a month.

Mullen was already facing almost identical charges filed April 11 and was charged with gross misdemeanor domestic assault on April 3 in Olmsted County. All of his alleged crimes involve the same victim, a 22-year-old woman from Winona.

Assistant Winona County Attorney Stephanie Sheire argued for only unconditional bail in Mullen’s case because on Monday he was reminded in Olmsted County District Court not to have contact with the victim. Two days later, he was arrested when police discovered he kicked in the woman’s locked front door. He is alleged to have done the same thing April 11 and waited for the woman to come home. He then attacked her in a drunken rage, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground, according to the criminal complaint. He had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.23 percent, according to police.

Judge Mary Leahy set Mullen’s bail at $150,000 consecutive to $100,000 bail he has already posted.

“You’re not getting the message,” she said.

Mullen remained in the Winona County Jail on Thursday afternoon and is set to return to court May 22.

Sexual assault

Timothy Daniel Riska, 24, was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct after he admitted having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 2005 and 2006.

Prosecutors dropped two other felony criminal sexual conduct charges as part of a plea agreement. Riska will likely be placed on probation and could face up to a year in jail when he is sentenced June 25.

Riska testified Thursday that he was in a sexual relationship with a girl from June 2005 to September 2006. When the relationship started, the girl was 13 and Riska was 21, he said. By the time it ended, they were 15 and 23, respectively. According to the criminal complaint, Riska said the sex was consensual. State law dictates consent is not a defense when the victim is younger than 16.

Contact Kevin Behr at kbehr@winonadailynews.com