Grillo

MONTICELLO NY – A Bethel man described as a “serial felony offender” was sentenced in Sullivan County Court on Thursday to 25 years to life in prison for his conviction for possession of thousands of dollars of stolen property.

Richard Grillo, 51, had been convicted by a jury in connection with his possession in April 2011 of thousands of dollars of stolen jewelry and other property taken during three different residential burglaries. He was arrested on Long Island after Sullivan County Sheriff’s detectives investigated burglaries in Thompson and Bethel.

Grillo was charged in April 2010 with burglary, criminal trespass, theft and criminal mischief, in connection with a break-in at a home in Birchwood Lakes in Pike County.   If and when he returns to Pike to face those charges will depend on whether he ever gets out of jail in New York. 

Sullivan County District Attorney James Farrell said Grillo has a lengthy list of previous felonies, and for him, this could be ‘strike three’.

“This is statute is designed as a three strikes you’re out statute and he is a serial felony offender,” he said. “For the past 30 years his life has been one crime after another, one felony after another, one victim after another and the sentence today that was handed down on him brings that life to a screeching halt, and now he has to do life from the inside.”