Witness to stabbing admits cocaine deal

An Ogdensburg woman who witnessed a stabbing admitted Thursday in federal court to selling cocaine in Ogdensburg last year.

Sarah L. Ashley, 32, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Syracuse, before Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, federal court records show. She could serve up to 30 years in federal prison when sentenced.

She admitted to buying cocaine from Thomas Mahon on several occasions, including purchasing 3 grams of cocaine that later turned out to be 11/2 grams of cocaine, court documents say. She also confessed to selling about 2 grams of cocaine from a sport utility vehicle to several people on Aug. 9, 2009, the same night Lawrence B. Grenier III was stabbed several times in the chest and abdomen in the Nice N Easy convenience store parking lot on Champlain Street in Ogdensburg.

A criminal complaint filed by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent says that Ms. Ashley was a witness to the stabbing. She had been riding around Ogdensburg in the SUV with Syracuse resident Albert L. Sherman Jr., selling cocaine, when Mr. Grenier wanted to buy a half-gram of cocaine from them.

Mr. Grenier met both of them in the Nice N Easy parking lot and got into the back seat of the SUV, the complaint says. Mr. Grenier then wanted to see the cocaine, a request to which Ms. Ashley responded by asking to see the cash.

Mr. Sherman then displayed four half-gram packages of cocaine, which Mr. Grenier grabbed from his hand before he jumped out of the SUV. Mr. Sherman caught up to Mr. Grenier and stabbed him several times in the chest, the complaint says. Mr. Grenier later recovered from his injuries.

Mr. Sherman was sentenced in March on a second-degree assault charge in St. Lawrence County Court. He was given five years in state prison for stabbing Mr. Grenier. Mr. Mahon will be sentenced Aug. 30 in federal court on a conspiracy to distribute cocaine charge, federal court records show.

Ms. Ashley was convicted Dec. 20, 1999, in St. Lawrence County Court on a charge of attempted fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and given five years' probation, court records show.