Michael J. Troncone, 35, stole more than $322,000 in construction equipment to fuel his heroin habit.
When Michael J. Troncone started taking drugs, he never envisioned he'd get hooked.
His brother told a Northampton County judge the 35-year-old Blairstown Township man was seriously injured in a four-wheeler crash that left him in a medically induced coma for three months and in pain for the rest of his life.
He started taking drugs for that pain and never stopped.
He's serving an eight-year prison sentence in New Jersey for taking $300,000 in construction equipment and selling it to feed his drug habit.
Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden added a concurrent one- to two-year sentence in Pennsylvania on Friday for stealing $22,000 in lawn mowing equipment in the Slate Belt.
"My brother did not choose to become a drug addict," said Tom Troncone, who is a managing producer for NJ Advance Media. NJ Advance Media provides content for lehighvalleylive.com and nj.com.
Tom Troncone said his brother's chest was crushed when the brakes on the four-wheeler he was riding failed in 2002. He cracked his ribs, lacerated his spleen and shattered bones in his leg. His leg pain continues to this day.
N.J. man stole $300K in equipment
"The pain is intense and constant and the only thing that stops it are the buckets of Oxycontin he's taking," said Tom Troncone.
Doctors started cutting back his oxycodone dosage, so he turned to heroin, according to Tom Troncone.
Michael Troncone got a settlement from the four-wheeler manufacturer, which he spent on a car and illegal drugs.
Assistant District Attorney Laura Majewski said the estimated restitution in Pennsylvania was initially $100,000, although that figure was later cut down to $22,000.
One of his victims, Renee M. Gale-Falcone, teared up in court. She co-owns Hilltop Sales and Service in Washington Township, Northampton County, with her husband.
They put in a lot of hours away from family to keep the business running, and the theft on Sept. 12, 2014, hurt them personally.
"Each time an individual comes here and takes what is not theirs, they also take a piece of us," she wrote in a letter to the judge.
In the letter, she said she knows someone addicted to drugs and is sympathetic to those who can't control themselves under drugs' influence.
In the letter, she asked that Troncone get treatment, stay clean and apologize.
"I'm sorry," Michael Troncone told the judge.
"My brother is not a bad man," Tom Troncone said. "He's an addict."
The crime baffled the judge. She couldn't understand how Michael Troncone had the gall to hitch the lawn equipment trailers to the back of his truck and drive away without fear he'd be seen.
"It had to be one of the most obvious thefts ever," she said. "It sounds like something SNL (Saturday Night Live) would do."
She said she's suffered pain but had the discipline to keep herself from letting pain medication take over.
"I can't identify with this problem," McFadden said. "I believe it's a problem but I can't understand it."
She hopes that once Troncone leaves prison several years from now he never takes drugs again.
"You're going to spend a whole lot of time undoing your drug problem," she said.
Troncone pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and one count of conspiracy to commit theft.
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.