City man denies lying to officers
Toolbox
By DAWSON RASPUZZI Herald Staff - Published: January 3, 2009
A Rutland man who has been in and out of jail numerous times over the past decade for drug and burglary convictions started 2009 by returning to jail, the place he once told a judge he felt most comfortable.
Steven M. Sedotto, 45, was ordered held for lack of $10,000 bail after he pleaded innocent Friday to a misdemeanor charge of lying to police.
In the first criminal charges filed in Rutland District Court in 2009, according to court records, Sedotto is charged with giving police a friend's name when he was pulled over for driving an unregistered vehicle Thursday afternoon.
Police said Sedotto gave them a false name when asked who he was and told police he didn't have his identification on him.
After running the information, police discovered the man whose name was given had a license that was criminally suspended and police arrested Sedotto for the violation.
After he was fingerprinted, Sedotto admitted his true identity to police, saying he lied because he was a fugitive from justice and had an active warrant for his arrest from the Vermont Parole Board, police said. Sedotto also told police he has a baby about to be born and didn't want to go to jail, according to the affidavit.
Sedotto said the man whose name he gave was a friend of his, which is the reason he used it, the affidavit states.
In court Friday, Sedotto's public defender reserved the right to argue bail at a later time and did not argue the state's request to set bail at $10,000.
If he is convicted on the charge, Sedotto could serve up to one year in jail and be ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
Sedotto already had six pending charges prior to his most recent arrest, including three felony charges of forgery, felony charges of burglary and possession of burglary tools and a misdemeanor charge of possessing stolen property, according to court records.
The latter three charges stem from an arrest after Sedotto and another man allegedly stole a safe they believed was full of heroin — but was instead loaded with counterfeit money and baseball cards, police said.
Sedotto was freed on $5,000 bail after being arraigned on the charges last October, and if he is convicted on the six charges he could face 66 years in jail and fines totaling $14,500.
In 2005, Sedotto was ordered to serve two to nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing heroin, according to court records.
Two years earlier, Sedotto was convicted of possessing heroin and two counts of retail theft and at that time, Sedotto told a judge he felt more comfortable in jail until he got help for his 15-year heroin addiction, than in the community.
Sedotto also has retail theft and possession of heroin convictions in the Rutland courthouse dating back as early as 1997, according to court records.
Contact Dawson Raspuzzi at dawson.raspuzzi@rutlandherald.com.
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