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Robert Alexander suspended as justice in the Town of Pembroke

By Howard B. Owens

Robert E. Alexander has been suspended with pay effective Thursday as justice in the Town of Pembroke in an order signed by NYS Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman.

Alexander is under indictment on charges of coercion and official misconduct. He's also been accused -- but not charged with any crime -- of threatening a Town of Pembroke board member.

A former Village of Corfu justice, Alexander's troubles started June 2012 when a NYS Comptroller's Office audit allegedly uncovered at least $10,000 in missing court funds.

In June, Alexander's daughter, Brandi Watts, who was the Village of Corfu court clerk during the period of time covered by the audit, was indicted on 61 counts, including felony counts of grand larceny.

In July, Lippman ordered Alexander removed from all pending court cases in Pembroke and barred him from hearing any future cases pending the outcome of the criminal case against him.

The charges against Alexander stem from a compliant lodged by the current court clerk, Pam Yasses, that Alexander harassed her after initially directing her to conduct an audit of the court records and then reportedly being unhappy with the results when Yasses said she confirmed at least $10,000 in missing funds.

Alexander has denied any wrongdoing.

Further Reading: This morning we found this undated story about Alexander on the 700 Club Web site.

John Roach

Since he has not admitted guilt, I, like everyone else, will have to wait until the court case is settled. But if found guilty, he should get the max allowed.

Aug 24, 2013, 11:23am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

That story on the 700 club just creeps me right out. I know I'll take flack for saying it, but if people claim they're influenced by god or satan, it's perfectly acceptable. If the next guy says he's influenced by meepzorp, the god of the unflushable toilet, he's insane.

Aug 24, 2013, 2:50pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

brb I have to go tell Meepzorp that my toilet flushes now so he will stop bugging me when I take a bath. Thanks a lot Doug I didn't know that you knew Meepzorp too. With him gone the cats are gonna start trying to drink from the toilet again :(

Aug 24, 2013, 9:13pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Read like a pretty typical Evangelical testimony to me. The kind of thing I grew up with and was surrounded with in college. What's creepy about it?

Aug 25, 2013, 12:08am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

Evangelical testimony is exactly why it's creepy to me. The whole god/devil thing is ridiculous to me. I find that it gives people something to blame their behaviors on instead of taking responsibility. It's kind of like calling alcoholism or drug abuse a disease. It gives the alcoholic or the addict an excuse. It's all choices to be made.

I used to smoke cigarettes heavily. I was addicted to them and I was driven to panic if I didn't have them. Even though I could feel them killing me, I couldn't bring myself to stop. Once I realized that I was falling into a trap I had set for myself, at that point I was able to break away and control myself. I stopped blaming other people and stopped being controlled by excuses. I realized that everything I do and the choices I make are ultimately mine.

Aug 25, 2013, 12:10pm Permalink

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