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Trooper accused of falsely reporting an incident in Batavia while off duty

By Howard B. Owens
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       Brianna Smith

A State Trooper has been arrested and charged with offering a false instrument for filing and falsely reporting an incident after allegedly claiming she was menaced by a person with a weapon while in Batavia.

Investigators say Brianna J. Smith, 25, was off duty at the time of the incident.

The location in Batavia of the report was not released nor were other details of the incident.

The State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. In a release, State Police say that investigators determined a weapon was never displayed nor used in the incident.

She was arrested and processed at the Batavia Barracks. Smith was attached to Troop T in Syracuse.

She was issued an appearance ticket in Town of Batavia Court for a date this month.

Corfu added to local law enforcement aid agreement so K-9 officer can respond to calls outside of village

By Howard B. Owens

An inter-municipal agreement that allows Batavia PD and the Le Roy PD to work with the Sheriff's Office outside of city and village limits is being updated to include Corfu PD.

The impetus behind the update is the addition of a K-9 officer to the Corfu force.

Sheriff William Sheron told the Public Safety Committee yesterday that an additional K-9 officer is a good resource for the county.

Officer Anthony Bartucca joined the Corfu PD after his prior department in Lyons was disbanded when the village was dissolved. He came with two dogs; one who specializes in drugs and tracking and another who specializes in explosives. Because he was already trained and had two dogs there was no additional cost to the Village of Corfu to hire him as another part-time officer on the force.

"(The updated agreement) is more for them to respond out in our jurisdiction than for us to respond to Corfu, since we already have jurisdiction throughout the county," Sheron told the committee.

Genesee County has become well covered by K-9s in recent years. Besides Deputy Chris Erion and "Destro" with the Sheriff's Office, DEC and State Police K-9 officers are regularly in Genesee County.

That's a great capability to have locally, Sheron said.

"In today's day and age when you're dealing with narcotic detection, tracking, explosives, you know, explosives is a very unfortunate thing these days, so I think we’re not overly staffed with K-9s by any means," Sheron said.

The addition of Bartucca with "King" and "Rocco" will also help reduce response times when Erion isn't available.

"I don’t want to rely on just Monroe or Erie County to bring out a K-9," Sheron said. "If we can have one local when time is critical, that’s the best you can do."

Sheriff's Office to offer Teen Academy to teach high school students about law enforcement

By Howard B. Owens

High school students in Genesee County are going to be offered an opportunity to learn about law enforcement through a new program in the Sheriff's Office called Teen Academy.

If the pilot is successful, it will become a regular program for the Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff William Sheron presented the idea to the Public Service Committee yesterday.

He said the idea was brought to him by the resource officer at the school, which he modeled after a program in Monroe County.

Each academy will be a week long and will include visits to the jail, the 911 Center, and the Sheriff's Office. Participants will get to see the emergency response team in action, learn about hostage negotiation, the K-9 program, and evidence recovery.

There will also be daily physical fitness runs, defensive tactics training, and team building exercises. The students will also receive classroom training in penal law and the state's traffic laws. Finally, students will participate in mock DWI stops and procedures.

The program is free to students selected to participate. There will be up to 15 students per academy.

Classes will be held at Byron-Bergen High School.

Eligible students are juniors or seniors in good academic standing with little or no disciplinary issues. They must be able to participate in physical fitness activities. Students need to have a positive attitude. Qualified students will be interviewed and screened.

"I think in today’s day and I age, I think we need to try to get our youth more involved with police officers to see what the role of law enforcement really is rather than what is depicted in the news media all too often," Sheron said. "It’s also a great recruiting tool."

CORRECTION: This story originally stated that the program would be available only to students at Byron-Bergen in the first class. That was incorrect. It will be open to students from all of the high schools in the county. Classes will be held at Byron-Bergen.

Sheriff planning program to train deputies on dealing with people with mental health issues

By Howard B. Owens

Increasingly, police officers must deal with people who have mental health issues, so to help them do their jobs better, Sheriff William Sheron is seeking additional training for his deputies.

Sheron, along with Undersheriff Greg Walker, a sergeant, and a deputy chief, will meet with officials from the Mental Health Association next week to kick off a training program.

The goal is to have all the deputies receive some training and have several deputies on each shift who are part of a crisis intervention team.

Part of the program, Sheron told members of the Public Service Committee yesterday, will be identifying what resources are currently available and what services are missing or deficient.

One goal is to help reduce the number people with mental health issues who wind up in the jail.

Former Sheriff Gary Maha, now a legislator and member of the committee, said he certainly understands the need for the program.

"Sometimes we end up putting them in jail because we don’t know what else to do with them sometimes when it's only minor charges," Maha said. "If there is a way to steer a person to an option other than going to jail it’s certainly beneficial to all of us."

Sheron anticipates grant money being available for the training, especially for the crisis intervention team, so he will be coming back to the Public Service Committee at a later date with a request to accept such a grant.

Ranzenhofer praises judge's decision to dismiss farm workers' lawsuit

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

State Supreme Court Judge Richard J. McNally Jr. has dismissed a New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) lawsuit, filed in May, regarding rights for farm workers. Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer (R-C-I, Amherst) was the first outspoken State Legislator to criticize the NYCLU’s actions.

Senator Ranzenhofer has issued the following statement:

“The NYCLU’s attempt to bypass the State Legislature and push increased regulations on our agriculture industry has failed. These burdensome regulations would have had a devastating impact on our family farms.

"I applaud the judge’s decision, and I commend the New York Farm Bureau for defending our 35,000 farms all across our state. As New York State’s number one industry, agriculture is the backbone of our rural communities, and this is a major victory for our family farms.” 

Alpine Ski results for Tuesday

By Howard B. Owens

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Photo and info from Coach Matt Holman. Photo: Aubrey Towner.

Alpine Ski Results for Tuesday at Swain Resort:

There was snow falling all night for a two-run Giant Slalom Race at Swain Resort on Tuesday night. (The resort is also located in Swain, a hamlet in Livingston County.) The loose soft powder pushed together to form big ruts as the hard base was exposed just inside the race line.

The Boys Batavia Alpine Ski Team finished fifth out of eight teams in the Southern Tier Race League. Top finishers included Brandon Bradley (15th), Alec Wagner (24th), Zack Wagner (28th), Matt Grover (31st) and Ryan Bowen (36th).

The Girls team competed individually (no team time), the top finisher was Aubrey Towner (21st).

The next race will be a slalom race Thursday.

Le Roy beats Warsaw, 53-52

By Howard B. Owens

Le Roy held off Warsaw's scoring barrage in the 4th quarter, when Warsaw hit 24 points, to manage a one-point victory in boys basketball on Tuesday night, 53-52.

Reece Tresco scored 18 and had six rebounds. Canyon Roster, 15, and Bobby Locke, six points and seven rebounds.  

Ben MacConnell scored 17 for Warsaw and Ethan Grawe hit five threes for 15 total points.  He hit three of those threes in the last 25 seconds of the game, the last one with one second left.

Byron-Bergen girls stretch win streak to seven games

By Howard B. Owens

Dana VanValkenburg hit five three-pointers to help lead Byron-Bergen to a 53-31 win over Lyndonville on Tuesday night. 

It was the seventh-straight win for the Lady Bees, who are now 7-3.

VanValkenburg finished with 23 points.

Julianna Amesbury scored 14.

Byron-Bergen hosts Elba on Thursday and then faces Le Roy and Notre Dame on the road next week.

Lady Cougars Explode Out of the Gate for Big Win

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

The Genesee Community College women's basketball team started its game against the Herkimer Generals with an 11-0 run and never looked back in a 78-35 win. The 43-point differential was Genesee's second-best this season as was its 78 total points and 28 points in a single quarter. Both the latter two categories were set against Mercyhurst with an 81-point total and 31 in a single quarter.

The Cougars out-scored the Generals by the half with 36 as four Cougars recorded double-digit point performances and two of those four ended the game with double-doubles.

TaLia Burgess and Rosalyn Sealey each scored 20 points, while Reika Murota added 17 and Kierra Perl 11. Both the former and latter had double-doubles with Burgess adding 19 boards and Perl 10.

Jasmine Holmes finished with 14 rebounds and two blocks, while Sierra Chudy had a team-high six steals for Genesee. In addition to Burgess' team highs in points and rebounds, she also led the team with five steals and co-led the team in assists with five and blocks with a pair. Sealey also had five assists and Murota added three steals.

Men’s Basketball Team Has Three-Game Win Streak Snapped by Unbeaten Foe

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

The Genesee Community College men's basketball team was on the verge of giving visiting Herkimer its first loss of the season after heading into the intermission with a five-point lead, but the Generals produced 51 second-half points to defeat the Cougars 86-74.

Brian Fobbs led all Cougars in points and rebounds with 34 and 13, respectively, in recording yet another double-double.

Two other Cougars hit double-digit points with Rahmel Thompson scoring 14 and Brandon Peters adding 10. Peters also had a team-high six assists, while Thompson and Tyrese Cherry each registered five boards.

The difference in the game may have come from three-point land where the Generals sank five more threes than the Cougars.

Collins introduces legislation to address lack of high-speed Internet in rural communities

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) introduced legislation today that would create a national federal registry of communications infrastructure to help address the lack of high-speed Internet access in rural areas. This registry will help determine which assets are available for lease to better expand access and will facilitate coordination between federal, state and local governments, as well as between carriers.

“It is almost unbelievable to think that approximately 65 percent of my district is underserved by broadband technology and about 3 percent is completely unserved,” Collins said. “Broadband access is important to our rural communities as our reliance on the Internet continues to grow for education, starting and administrating a business, receiving care from a doctor, or just plain shopping.”

Broadband companies have found it time-consuming, expensive and complicated to reach the communities that currently lack access. This inventory would be available to communications providers and include a description of assets, their locations, and a point of contact from each agency for more information on a given asset.

Collins sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which will be holding a series of hearings in the coming weeks to address removing barriers to infrastructure buildout, supporting innovation, and strengthening the public safety benefits that come with access to broadband Internet.

Collins added: “We need to think about things like public safety, making sure law enforcement has the ability to receive notification of an emergency and quickly respond. Our communities need broadband Internet access to stay connected, and I am confident we are taking steps in the right direction."

For more information about the Inventory of Assets for Communications Facilities Act of 2018, click here.

Law and Order: Batavia man accused of possessing cache of drugs during traffic stop

By Howard B. Owens

Pierre Mahon Humphrey, 27, of Michigan Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 4th, criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Humphrey was allegedly found in possession of marijuana and narcotics during a traffic stop on Park Road, Batavia, by Deputy Travis DeMuth at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Humphrey was jailed on $25,000 bail or $50,000 bond.

Lucas T. Shafer, 20, of State Route 96A, Romulus, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Shafer was charged after Officer Arick Perkins located a vehicle parked behind the Harvester Center and stopped to investigate at 12:45 a.m., Tuesday. Also charged, Aaron C. Cuyler, 19, of Batavia Stafford Townline Road, Batavia.

Sath Paul Dhanda, 37, of Clapsaddle Road, Bethany, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Dhanda was arrested following a complaint of a person banging on the back door of a residence on Ellicott Street, Batavia, at 3:08 p.m. Monday. There was an order of protection in place that Dhanda allegedly violated. Dhanda was jailed on an unspecified amount of bail.

Alexander J. Schultz, 18, of Ross Street, Batavia, is charged with obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct. Schultz and a 17-year-old, who was also charged, were allegedly involved in a fight on Ross Street, Batavia, at 4:34 p.m. Jan. 11.

Ryan N. Bartholomew, 23, of Adams Street, Batavia, is charged with making terrorist threats and aggravated harassment, 2nd. Bartholomew allegedly made threats against police officers on social media. He was jailed without bail.

Desiree M. Sumeriski, 34, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Sumeriski allegedly failed to seek medical care for a child after observing injuries sustained by the child.

Camon T. Wyatt, of Pardee Street, Rochester, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear as ordered in court. Wyatt was released on bail.

David L Andrews, 30, of Lewis Place, Batavia, is charged with criminal impersonation and conspiracy 6th. Andrews is accused of conspiring with another person not to pay a bill at a local person by pretending to be another person.

Preston Randall Herbst, 21, of Hamlin Drive, Canandaigua, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, and moving from lane unsafely. Herbst was stopped at 2:51 a.m. today on Telephone Road, Pavilion, by Deputy Mathew Clor.

Joseph Thomas Misiak Jr., 62, of Pratt Road, Batavia, is charged with making terrorist threats. Misiak allegedly called a supervisor at the Sheriff's Office and threatened to damage the property of the subject as well as physical harm the subject. Misiak was arraigned and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Anna Marie Howard, 32, of Ivison Road, Byron, is charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, aggravated unlicensed operation, 2nd, and registration display violation. Deputy Ryan DeLong and Deputy Andrew Mullen responded to a complaint of a person driving erratically in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven in Bergen at 4:05 p.m. Sunday. 

Jordan R. Mock, 23, of Pavilion, is charged with a false written statement and falsely reporting an incident. Jordan J. Schilling, 30, of Silver Springs, is charged with criminal mischief, 3rd, false written statement, and falsely reporting an incident. Mock and Schilling were arrested in relation to a burglary investigation by State Police reported at 4:10 p.m. Saturday on Perry Road, Pavilion. Schilling was also charged in Wyoming County with false written statement in relation to a fraud investigation. No further details were released.

Timothy A. Frenchy, 24, of Bronx, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Frenchy was charged while at College Village at 9:03 p.m. Monday by State Police.

Court officials just ignore sexual predator's profanity in court during proceeding

By Howard B. Owens
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      Marlek Holmes

There will apparently be no contempt charge against Marlek Holmes after the convicted sexual predator used profanity and hurled insults at the District Attorney today in County Court.

Judge Charles Zambito apparently did not hear the most profane statement by Holmes, when he told District Attorney Lawrence Friedman he could go eff himself while the DA was using a copy machine near the defense table.

Defense Attorney Fred Rarick put his hand on his client's shoulder and advised him to be careful about what he said in court. 

Zambito did hear Holmes say, “I don’t understand anything that stupid ass says," after Zambito asked if he understood the plea offer presented by the district attorney.

Zambito pressed on without acknowledging the remark and clarified that Holmes was declining a plea offer that would have capped his potential prison sentence on his latest conviction and avoid a trial on a charge of failure to register a new address as a registered sex offender.

In May, Holmes, already a convicted sex offender, entered a guilty plea to guilty to a Class C violent felony, attempted criminal sexual act in the first degree. Later that month, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison while proclaiming his innocence. 

In October, Holmes was convicted following a jury trial on two counts of assault in the second degree and criminal mischief for assaulting a fellow inmate at the Genesee County Jail. 

On that conviction, he could be sentenced up to seven years each, for a total of 14 years, on top of the 15 years he's currently serving.

The plea offer from Friedman would have capped the sentence at five years, consecutive to his current 15 years, for a total of 25 years in prison, and satisfied the pending charges against Holmes related to his alleged failure to register a change of address as a sex offender (the oldest of the group of charges that has tied him up in County Court for more than a year).

As part of the deal, Holmes would be required to drop his current appeal on his sexual abuse conviction and not pursue appeals on his other cases.

The deal would have saved the people the expense of another trial.

Holmes refused the deal.

Earlier this month, Holmes sought to have his new trial delayed because he's being shuttled between prisons and doesn't have all of his paperwork and access to the prison law library. Friedman argued against a delay and Zambito agreed a delay was not necessary.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday with a hearing before the actual trial begins on Tuesday on whether Holmes qualifies as a persistent violent felony offender, which could mean an enhancement on his sentence on the jail assault conviction.

After court, Friedman said he wasn't sure what Zambito might have heard Holmes say, and he wasn't sure what was captured on the record.

"I decided at that point not to bother saying anything," Friedman said.

Alex Feig, from our news partner WBTA, contributed reporting to this story.

Photos: Alexander fire awards and officer installation

By Howard B. Owens

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The weekend before last, I had the pleasure of attending the Alexander Volunteer Fire Department's annual installation and awards dinner.

The next morning, before I had a chance to post the pictures, I got sidetracked by the blockade and fire situation on Washington Avenue, then I had an afternoon event to attend. By the time I got home that night, it didn't even occur to me that I hadn't posted the pictures yet.

Apologies to the folks in Alexander. Here are the pictures.

For 2018, the Firematic Officers are: Chief Marshall Merle, Deputy Chief Paul Hirsch, 2nd Assistant Jim Burkhardt, 3rd Assistant Dean Hendershot, 4th Assistant Tom Green, Ambulance Captain Todd Fleenor, Ambulance Lieutenant Darlene Merle, Truck Captain Aaron Hirsch, Truck Lieutenant Carl Homer, Training Captain Sean McPhee, Training Lieutenant Ryan Hinz, and Safety Officer Nate Fix.

Administrative Officers: Dean Hendershott, president; Tom Green, VP; Amanda Donnelly, recording secretary; Jennifer Merle, financial secretary; Jackqueline Lowe, treasurer; Bob Spiers, chaplain; and trustees Sean McPhee, Darlene Merle, Deb Green, Amanda Donnelly, Ryan Hinz, Matt Pietrzykowski and Nate Fix.

Ladies Auxiliary Officers: Donna Rhodes, president; Ann Buckenmeyer, VP; Kate Goodman, secretary; Colette Guarino, treasurer; Marge Kelsey, flag bearer; Donna Rhodes, chaplain; and directors Sandy Homer; Marge Kelsey and Linda Higley.

Top photo: Ryan Hinz, Firefighter of the Year.

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Jenny McPhee, EMS Provider of the Year.

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James Burkhardt, EMS Non-medic of the Year.

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John Meier received the President's Award.

Rollover accident on the Thruway in Pembroke

By Howard B. Owens

A rollover accident is reported in the Thruway in the area of mile marker 401.6 in the eastbound lane.

Dispatchers have received several calls on it.

One person is reported to be still in the vehicle.

Pembroke fire, Indian Falls fire, and Mercy EMS dispatched.

UPDATE 8:39 a.m.: A vehicle is on its roof on the bridge of the off and on ramp, according to a chief on scene. Traffic is backing up.

UPDATE 8:42 a.m.: The chief believes the driver is out of the vehicle. There is a snowplow pushing it onto the median.

UPDATE 8:46 a.m.: There were two people in the vehicle. They are in a State Police car. One has a complaint of shoulder pain. The other is apparently uninjured.

UPDATE 9:10 a.m.: Pembroke and Indian Falls back in service.

Rollover accident reported on Route 238, Alexander

By Howard B. Owens

A rollover accident is reported on Route 238 near Bowen Road, Alexander.

No word on injuries.

Alexander fire and ambulance dispatched.

UPDATE 11:55 p.m.: Minor injuries.

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