Probation for ex-D.A. aide in drug case

Last holiday season, Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Adam Yanoff got busted for drug possession after a cop saw him sitting in a car allegedly snorting crack cocaine.

He allegedly was carrying a little marijuana, too.

Yanoff, 30, received something worth celebrating yesterday, when Common Pleas Judge David C. Shuter accepted his no-contest plea and sentenced him to 12 months of supervised probation.

If Yanoff stays out of trouble and completes the terms of his probation, including drug treatment and screening, his two drug-possession charges would be dismissed and he could file to have them expunged from his record, defense attorney Ronald Greenblatt said.

"My client is glad that it can be resolved in a way in which the charges against him will be dismissed," Greenblatt said by phone following a brief morning hearing.

"He's undergoing treatment now," continued Greenblatt.

He added that Yanoff was working as a lawyer in private practice.

Yanoff was sentenced under the state's Section 17 Program for defendants with no prior criminal record.

Police said the patrolman saw Yanoff, of Lombard Street near 12th, on the afternoon of Nov. 29, 2008, in a driveway on Delancey Street near 41st, University City, about 4 p.m., snorting a white, powdery substance.

The officer said he saw Yanoff emptying the cocaine from a small bag onto a magazine, then use a straw to snort the substance.

Police said that Yanoff was carrying what later was determined to be 1.3 grams of cocaine and a small bag containing about $20 worth of marijuana.

He was charged with possessing a controlled substance and possessing marijuana - both misdemeanors.

At the time of his arrest, Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Lynne Abraham, said that Yanoff had been suspended without pay. Greenblatt said he later resigned.

Abookire said yesterday that she had no comment on Yanoff's case.

Because he had been employed by the D.A.'s office, Yanoff's case was prosecuted by the state Attorney General's Office, which is routine.

Yanoff began working for the D.A.’s office in August 2008 and handled cases assigned to Municipal Court.