×

5 to 15 years in state prison for 10-day crime spree

A man was sentenced to serve five to 15 years in state prison for a string of incidents during a 10-day period in August of 2015.

Cody Dyer, 33, of Allenwood, faced over 50 charges spanning four cases involving police chases, driving under the influence, trespassing and theft.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, theft, fleeing recklessly endangering another person and many other charges.

Dyer first was wanted for ramming another car multiple times at a river lot in Muncy Creek Township on Aug. 8, 2015 and for disturbances at the Fort Brady Hotel on North Main Street, in Muncy, on Aug. 11, 2015.

Five days later, Dyer stole a Honda Pilot belonging to his girlfriend at the time and drove it to a home on Race Street in Hughesville. He began smashing windows to the house.

On the way to the Hughesville home, police were rerouted to Dyer’s mother’s home where he broke in, poured beer on her head, threatened to drive the vehicle through the house and caused significant damage to the kitchen.

Dyer then drove away from police on Route 44 on Aug. 18, 2015 when he struck a state police cruiser.

Dyer, who has struggled with post-traumatic stress and bi-polar disorder his entire life, said he felt one of his long-lasting states of mania approaching before the incidents.

“I got nervous when I felt the manic state coming on,” he said in court before being sentenced. “I should’ve run and got help then … I get a better high on whatever chemical my brain is overproducing than any man-made drug. But what goes up must come down and I totally destroyed my life.”

Dyer has served probationary and county prison sentences before, but for around 3 1/2 years before the most recent incidents, Dyer was in a good place, he said.

“I did a lot of soul searching and I came out with a whole new outlook on life. Each day was a new gift,” Dyer said. “That’s why they call it the present. That 3 1/2 years was the most I’ve had it together since before I was 17.”

The sentence he received in Lycoming County Court Friday will run concurrently to the 20- to 90-month sentence he received for the charges brought on by the same incidents out of Union County.

But before he proceeded with sentencing Friday, a motion for reconsideration he asked be filed left him with an important decision.

Dyer initially wanted to have a hearing to see if the courts would let him withdrawal his guilty pleas on the basis that he should have pleaded guilty but mentally ill.

“I am open to granting you a hearing, but if I grant your motion and you withdrawal your guilty pleas, you are back to square one … that means you could potentially end up with a more severe sentence,” Judge Marc F. Lovecchio said.

The move would mean Dyer could have had his previous admissions to the incidents brought up in a trial or that he would be facing the same amount of time if he pleaded guilty but mentally ill anyway, Lovecchio said.

“Cody has a very good heart and a really big problem,” Connie Dyer, Cody’s mother, said. “I just hope he takes advantage of the help that’s offered to him. I think five years is plenty and I was a victim.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today