Michael Chmielewski is a Colonie, New York man serving 22 years to life for the first-degree murder of Jacquelyn Porreca, a 32-year-old master barber he stabbed during a August 2015 robbery of the Recycled Salon on Sand Creek Road. He pleaded guilty in September 2016 and was sentenced that November. His co-defendant, Sean Moreland, received 2 to 6 years for hindering prosecution after key evidence against him was suppressed.1Daily Gazette. Man Pleads Guilty in Porreca Murder2Albany County District Attorney. Sentencing in Colonie Murder Case
The Salon Robbery and Stabbing
On the afternoon of August 21, 2015, Chmielewski, then 23, and Moreland, 32, drove to the Recycled Salon at Sand Creek and Russell roads in Colonie planning to rob it for heroin money. Both were heroin addicts. Neither knew the shop or its employees. Moreland stayed outside in his black Volkswagen Passat. Chmielewski went in with a knife.3Times Union. Two People in Custody for Colonie Hair Stylist’s Death
Porreca was working alone. Chmielewski stabbed her twice in the neck and once near her right ear, then fled with between $500 and $800 in cash. She was taken to Albany Medical Center and died two days later, on August 23, 2015.4NY1. Colonie Salon Homicide Sentencing1Daily Gazette. Man Pleads Guilty in Porreca Murder
How the Case Was Cracked
Months passed without an arrest. Colonie police searched extensively for the knife, including underwater dives, but never recovered it.5Spectrum News. Michael Chmielewski in Court for Jacquelyn Porreca Murder The break came on November 7, 2015, when a confidential informant told investigators he had been in a car with the two men while they discussed the killing, and that Chmielewski had admitted to the stabbing.6Times Union. Hearing in Death of Jacquelyn Porreca
Detectives wired the informant’s car with microphones and hid a camera in a key fob. Over the next few days the informant drove the suspects around and recorded them. Arrests followed on or around November 9, 2015. Both men were arraigned in Colonie Town Court and indicted by an Albany County grand jury on November 13, 2015.7Spectrum News. Men Accused in Colonie Salon Homicide in Court8Troy Record. Colonie Men Indicted for Porreca Murder
The Guilty Plea and Sentence
On September 6, 2016, Chmielewski pleaded guilty in Albany County Supreme Court to one count of first-degree murder, a class A felony. He admitted attacking Porreca with a knife during the robbery and acknowledged he was high on heroin when he did it. Testifying against Moreland was not part of the deal.1Daily Gazette. Man Pleads Guilty in Porreca Murder5Spectrum News. Michael Chmielewski in Court for Jacquelyn Porreca Murder
Justice Thomas Breslin sentenced him on November 9, 2016 to 22 years to life. In court, Chmielewski turned to Porreca’s family and said, “I’m so sorry … It’s not enough.” Before pronouncing sentence, Breslin said, “Drugs may have made these men desperate for money, but it did not make them killers.”9Times Union. Sentencing for Jacquelyn Porreca Case
With a crime date of August 2015 and a 22-year minimum, Chmielewski will not be eligible for parole consideration until roughly 2037. He remains in the New York State prison system.
What Happened to Sean Moreland
Moreland’s path through the case turned on a suppression ruling. Before either man pleaded, Justice Breslin excluded Moreland’s statements to police and suppressed evidence found in his car. Albany County District Attorney David Soares said the ruling “pretty much gutted what remained of an effective case of felony murder against Mr. Moreland.”10Spectrum News. Jacqueline Porreca Sean Moreland in Court
On September 8, 2016, Moreland pleaded guilty to first-degree hindering prosecution, a class D felony, admitting he had driven Chmielewski from the scene. The second-degree murder and first-degree robbery counts against him were dropped. He was sentenced the same day as Chmielewski to 2 to 6 years, to run concurrently with an 8-year term he was already serving for an unrelated July 2015 burglary.10Spectrum News. Jacqueline Porreca Sean Moreland in Court11Daily Gazette. Two Sentenced in Stabbing Death of Hairstylist Jacquelyn Porreca
Who Jacquelyn Porreca Was
Jacquelyn Mariah Porreca was born August 5, 1983, and grew up in Windham, New York, in the Catskills. She graduated from Windham-Ashland-Jewett High School in 2002 and moved to the Albany area to pursue cosmetology. She earned master barber credentials and in 2013 opened Jackson’s Barber Shop in Colonie with her brother Gio Falciano, who ran a private spa in the same space.12Legacy.com. Jacquelyn Porreca Obituary13Times Union. Brother Says Slain Sister Saw the Good
After a September 2014 fire damaged that location, she took a job at the Recycled Salon on Sand Creek Road. She had worked there about a year when she was killed. She was engaged to Mickey Myers, and the couple had been planning to buy a house.13Times Union. Brother Says Slain Sister Saw the Good At sentencing, her sister Janeah Rosecrans told the court that “a drug addiction did not make them bring a knife into the salon that day and brandish it. It did not make them attack and murder her.”9Times Union. Sentencing for Jacquelyn Porreca Case