Woodstock man pleads guilty to possessing cocaine, sentenced to 4 years in prison; additional charges dropped

A Woodstock man pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing 15 to 100 grams of cocaine and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Jose Garcia, 30, is required to serve 50% of his prison term and then will be on mandatory supervised release for six months. He will receive credit for 32 days spent in the county jail, according to prosecutors and a judgment order in McHenry County court.

Defense attorney Jed Stone told Judge Mark Gerhardt that Garcia’s offense was the result of his addiction at the time to marijuana and Xanax. Gerhardt indicated in his judgment order that the offense was committed as a result of the use or abuse of alcohol or drugs and recommended that Garcia get treatment while in prison.

In exchange for Garcia’s plea, additional counts were dismissed, including more serious Class X felonies of manufacturing and delivering 15 to 100 grams of cocaine. Also dismissed was an additional count of possessing cocaine and manufacturing and delivering 30 to 500 grams of marijuana, according to court documents and Assistant State’s Attorney Fara Momen.

Garcia was arrested after an ongoing investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Narcotic’s Task Force. On or about Nov. 10, 2022, and again on Dec. 14, 2022, Garcia was allegedly seen delivering 27.8 grams of cocaine. On Dec. 19, 2022, Garcia’s apartment was searched, and police found 46 THC vaporizer cartridges each containing 1 gram of marijuana, according to a motion to compel source of funds in his file.

Garcia was out on cash bond and taken into jail custody Wednesday after entering his guilty plea.