SALEM, MA -- It paid to be a family man Tuesday for Manuel Soto-Vittini, 32, of Peabody, as a judge decided he didn't deserve jail time after pleading guilty to a charge of drug possession with intent to distribute. Salem Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley ignored a request by prosecutor's for a one- to three-year jail sentence because Soto-Vittini was not an addict and was selling drugs to support his family.

"This was basically a money crime," Feely said as he sentenced Soto-Vittini to two years of probation, according to the Salem News, which first reported this story. Feely also said he was worried a jail sentence would result in Soto-Vittini being deported. Three years ago Soto-Vittini was arrested after Salem Police broke up and drug deal and found more than half an ounce of heroin hidden in a secret compartment in his car.

It's not the first time Feely has released convicted felons over the objections of prosecutors. In a 2016 dangerousness hearing he released Daniel D. Beauvais, 48, of Salem, on bail, after he was indicted on charges that he repeatedly sexually abused a 12-year-old girl and after a different judge called Beauvais a "serial sexual abuser." More recently -- and more notably -- Feely was one of two judges who reduced bail for 29-year-old John Williams after Massachusetts State Police arrested him on firearms and other charges. Feely reduced his bail to $5,000 in March. In April, Williams allegedly shot and killed a sheriff's deputy in Maine while out on bail.