People v Rivas, 2015 NY Slip Op 07538 [132 AD3d 486]

October 15, 2015

Appellate Division, First Department

[*1]

The People of the State of New York, Respondent,

v

Frank Rivas, Also Known as Frank Rosario, Appellant.

Seymour W. James, Jr., The Legal Aid Society, New York (Adrienne M. Gantt of counsel), for appellant.

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., District Attorney, New York (Eleanor J. Ostrow of counsel), for respondent.

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Daniel Conviser, J.), rendered April 5, 2011, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third and fifth degrees, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of five years’ probation, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly admitted $525 recovered from defendant at the time of his arrest since this evidence, along with the reasonable inferences that could be drawn therefrom, was probative of defendant’s intent to sell, an essential element of the charges ( see e.g. People v Bligen , 35 AD3d 171 [1st Dept 2006], lv denied 8 NY3d 919 [2007]). Concur—Acosta, J.P., Renwick, Moskowitz and Manzanet-Daniels, JJ..