crime

Leandra Marie Kutas, 17, of Gould Avenue, Depew, is charged with attempted assault, 2nd, criminal mischief, 3rd, and menacing, 2nd. Kutas is accused of punching, biting and hitting another person with a baseball bat during an incident in Darien on Nov. 10. Kutas allegedly left the residence after the attack and then returned a short time later and keyed the victim's car. Kutas was arraigned and released under supervision.

Tyler M. Schroder, 18, of Oak Street, Oakfield, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, and unlawful possession of marijuana. Schroder was allegedly found in possession of pills and marijuana while being arrested on a warrant. He was jailed on $1,500 bail.

An 18-year-old Batavia man allegedly called a Byron-Bergen School and imitated a girl's father to get her released from school early.

There was reportedly a court order in place requiring the man not contact the girl.

Arrested by the Sheriff's Office was Michael Aaron Witkop of Ross Street.

He is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, and criminal impersonation, 2nd.

Witkop was jailed on $250 bail.

Basilio Martinez, 47, of Route 33, Bergen, is charged with criminal possession of stolen property 4th, criminal possession of a weapon 4th and petit larceny. Martinez was arrested following an investigation into stolen firewood from a residence on Parmelee Road, Le Roy, at 5:30 p.m., Sunday. The homeowner confronted the suspect and was able to obtain a partial plate number of the suspect's vehicle. Martinez was located in Bergen and allegedly found in possession of stolen firewood and a shotgun that was reported stolen out of Livingston County in 2000. The investigation was conducted by Deputy Bradley Mazur.

Glenn Howard Wright, 40, of of 5400 Broadway Road, Bethany, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon 4th.  Wright was arrested following a police response to his residence on a check-the-welfare call at 10:16 a.m., Tuesday. Wright, reportedly a convicted felon, was allegedly found in possession of a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun.

Sharon Lee Awall, 43, of Dodson Road, Alexander, is charged with two counts of grand larceny 4th. Awal is accused of stealing a wallet with credit cards, debit cards and jewelery worth more than $1,000.

A 16-year-old Le Roy youth is charged with criminal impersonation 2nd and identity theft 3rd. The youth is accused of tyring to use a false identity to purchase alcohol at a local gas station. He was allegedly in possession of an out-of-state identification belonging to another person.

The Batavia Police Department released information today on seven individuals who are wanted on warrants related to various alleged crimes.

Below are the mug shots and available information on each individual.

Citizens are asked to call Batavia PD at 345-6350 (the county emergency dispatch number). Citizens are warned not to try and apprehend these individuals on their own.

Robert J. Eppolito: born 8/14/1982; 5' 8", 160 lbs; last known address -- 28 Washington Ave. Warrant: Menacing, 2nd - Weapon.

Dashawn A. Butler: born 10/19/1979; 6' 1", 180 lbs; last known address -- 120 State St. Warrant: Criminal Possession of a Weapon, 3rd, Menacing, 2nd.

Amanda A. Maben: born 05/30/1978; 5' 3", 115 lbs; last known address -- 7740 Lewiston Road. Warrant: Possession of a Forged Instrument, 3rd.

Larry R. Brewer: born 02/18/1966; 6', 190 lbs; last known address -- 3 Maple St., lower.
Warrants: Aggravated Harassment x 3, Criminal Contempt, 1st x 3.

Jamie C. Wilmet: born 12/20/1984; 5' 9", 145 lbs; last known address -- 20 N. Spruce St. Warrant: Criminal Possession of a Weapon, 3rd.

Brian A. Merritt: born: 6/21/1974; 6' 2", 185 lbs.; last known address -- 10571 Main St., Alexander. Warrant: Criminal Contempt, 1st.

Jeremiah D. Williams: born 4/06/1991; 5' 10", 135 lbs.; last known address -- 9 Raymond Ave. Warrant: Level 3 Sex Offender - Failure to Verify Address.

A Batavia woman faces a Leandra's Law felony drunken driving charge following a reported hit-and-run accident on Farnsworth Street in Oakfield last night.

Tonya Marie Weber, 26, a School Street resident, was allegedly driving a 1992 Dodge Shadow on Farnsworth when she struck at least one parked car.

The front license plate reportedly fell off the car at the scene and the car reportedly suffered heavy front-end damage.

Within 10 minutes of the 6:44 p.m. accident, Weber's car was reportedly found at another residence in the Village of Oakfield.

Upon investigation, Deputy Joseph Graff concluded that Weber was allegedly driving the vehicle in an intoxicated condition at the time of the accident and a child under 15 years old was in the car.

Weber is charged under Leandra's Law and with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, endangering the welfare of a child, leaving the scene of a property damage accident and moving from lane unsafely.

An arraignment date was set for Dec. 20.

(Initial Report)

Batavia Police have been alerted to look for a 1992 Dodge Shadow that was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run accident in the area of 20 Farnsworth St., Oakfield.

The small sedan reportedly lost its front license plate after striking at least one car at that address.

The maroon vehicle is registered to a Batavia resident and reportedly has heavy front-end damage.

Sheriff's deputies are responding to the scene in Oakfield.

UPDATE 7:02 p.m.: Car may have been located in Oakfield.

UPDATE 7:38 p.m.: It sounds like there has been arrest.

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David S. Hare, 38, of 5236 Cotton Road, Silver Springs, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater, criminal trespass, 2nd, and criminal mischief, 4th. Hare was charged following a report of a man entering a residence at 2:12 a.m. today in the area of Route 63 and Batavia-Stafford Townline Road, Batavia. The suspect reportedly broke the door to gain entrance to the house. He then reportedly drove from the scene. Hare was  found by Sgt. Thomas Sanfratello a short distance from the house where his car had driven off the road. He was issued an appearance ticket.

Jeffrey L. Upchurch, 46, of Butler Drive, Bristol, Tenn., is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .18 or greater, and unsafe lane change. Upchurch was arrested following a report of a truck driver and a companion leaving Red Osier on Route 5 in Stafford at 7 p.m., Friday, after being refused service. Upchurch reportedly got into a semi-truck that didn't have a trailer. His truck reportedly hit a tree as he pulled from the parking lot. Upchurch was reportedly found driving his truck on Route 5 just west of the city line by Deputy Matt Butler. Upchurch was jailed on $2,000 bail. (Initial Report)

Jon D. Smith, 28, and Sylvia L. Smith, 25, of 5 Prune St., Batavia, are charged with endangering the welfare of a child. The Smiths were allegedly found on Thursday by officer Kevin DeFelice to be keeping their children living in substandard conditions.

Philip R. Ayala, 25, of 732 W. Bridges Ave., Auburndare, Fla., is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Ayala was charged following a traffic stop on Bank Street on Thursday by Office Marc Lawrence.

Carrie L. Jackson, 32, of 3 Tracy Ave., Batavia, is charged with aggravated harassment, 2nd. Jackson is accused of sending threatening text messages to a male acquaintance.

Frankie Lee Brumsted, 19, of South Main Street, Batavia, is charged with unlawful dealing with a child. Brumsted is accused of hosting an underage drinking party at a residence on Batavia-Bethany Townline Road.

Michael S. Colombo, 30, of Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Colombo was stopped by State Police at 8:26 p.m., Saturday, on Route 33 in Stafford.

Eric J. Flowers, 25, of Batavia, is charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th. Flowers was arrested by State Police at 4:13 p.m., Thursday. No further details provided.

An Alexander couple were arrested today for allegedly engaging in a sex act in a public place.

The pair was reported to the Sheriff's Office by security personnel with a business on Veteran's Memorial Drive after they were allegedly witnessed engaged in sexual activity at 4:11 p.m.

Charged with public lewdness were Kelly Anne Brown, 34, and Karl James Hulshoff, 34, both of Broadway Road in Alexander.

Brown and Hulshoff were allegedly engaged in a sex act in a parked car in the vicinity of 4180 Veterans Memorial Drive.

They were arrested by Deputy James Diehl and released on an appearance ticket.

A 25-year-old Elba man is being charged with sexual abuse in the first degree following his arrest for allegedly having sexual contact with a child under 11 years old.

Rigoberto Aguilar, of Oak Orchard Road, was jailed on $25,000 bail.

Aguilar was taken into custody following a 9-1-1 call at 3 a.m., Friday.

James Lamar Poole, 46, of Fargo Road, Darien, is charged with DWI, unlawful possession of marijuana, unlicensed driver, driving left of pavement markings and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle on a highway. Poole was stopped at 1:46 a.m., Thursday, in Allegheny Road, Corfu, by Deputy Kevin McCarthy. Poole was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Gregory Scott Snyder, 42, of West Main Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Snyder allegedly twice went to the residence of a protected person in violation of a court's stay-away order.

Suzanne Corona -- the 41-year-old Batavia woman who admitted to sexual contact with an Oakfield man in Farrall Park over the summer -- was sentenced this afternoon to one year probation by City Court Judge Michael Delplato.

Her attorney, Brian Degnan, asked a conditional discharge -- meaning the charges would be dropped if Corona complied with certain requirements over a six-month period -- but Delplato said he thought the Probation's Department recommendation for probation was best for Corona.

Corona will need to continue in substance-abuse counseling, which she already started voluntarily, and stay out of trouble.

She previously pled guilty to public lewdness, a misdemeanor, and an adultery charge against her was dropped.

Outside of the courtroom, Corona was she was glad to put the embarrassing case behind her.

"I'm glad it's over," Corona said. "It was a long time coming. I'm glad. My family's glad."

Then she told the handful of reporters gathered outside the courthouse, "Hopefully there will be another scandalous behavior in Batavia to keep you all busy."

The reporters laughed and WHAM-13's Sean Carroll said, "One that doesn't involve you, right?"

"No, it won't involve me," Corona said.

Corona told Delplato prior to her sentencing that she's been going to private counseling three times a week and a group session once a week.

One reason Delplato decided upon probation, he said, was because she had a prior arrest in another state and she never went to court on the matter. There is an arrest warrant, he said, for her in that jurisdiction.

"It's my responsibility to fashion a sentence that addresses the needs you have," Delplato said. "That's why I'm sentencing you to a year in probation.

Delplato also ordered Corona not to have any contact with her co-defendant, 29-year-old Justin Amend.

Amend is currently a fugitive from justice. A warrant was issued for his arrest earlier this month after he failed to appear for his sentencing on a public lewdness conviction.

Meagan Victoria Finzer, 21, of Clarendon Street, Albion, is charged with petit larceny. Finzer was allegedly confronted by loss prevention officers at Kmart shortly after 6 p.m., Tuesday, and she reportedly did not cooperate, and instead got into her car and drove off. A description of the vehicle, with license plate, was provided to local law enforcement and her car was stopped a short time later on West Main Street by Batavia Police. Following further investigation, she was taken into custody by a Sheriff's Deputy.

Michael John Coffta, 18, of West Main Street Road, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Coffta is accused of shoplifting from Kmart.

Joshua A. Kitanik, 22, of Oakfield, is charged with trespass. Kitanik was arrested at 4:48 p.m., Monday, by State Police on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. No further details released.

David Wayne King, 53, of Batavia-Oakfield Townline Road, Oakfield, is charged with petit larceny. King is accused of shoplifting cigarettes from Jan's Smoke Shop on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation.

Andrew R. Osborne, 18, of Drake Street, Oakfield, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Osborne is accused of sending inappropriate pictures to a female victim.

Joshua Charles Brownell, 19, of South Pearl Street, Oakfield, is charged with stalking, 4th, and harassment, 2nd. Brownell is accused of blocking a road with his vehicle and then exiting his vehicle and threatening another person.

Patrick Raymond Krieger, 20, of Genesee Street Road, Corfu, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Krieger was approached at Kmart by Deputy Brian Thompson regarding alleged illegal tinting of his windows. During the interview, Thompson allegedly found Krieger to be in possession of marijuana.

Thomas William Glass, 37, of Steven Drive, Cheektowaga, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Deputy Brian Thompson stopped Glass in the Village of Corfu for an alleged traffic violation at 1:40 p.m., Tuesday. During the traffic stop, K-9 "Jay" alerted on the vehicle.

Douglas James Karek, 50, of Geary Street, Buffalo, was picked up on a warrant out of Erie County Family Court. Karek was identified during a traffic stop on Route 33 in Corfu (Karek was reportedly a passenger in the vehicle driven by Glass above).

A Batavia man who admitted to attempted robbery for trying to steal oxycodone from the Oakfield Pharmacy will spend one-and-a-half to three years in prison.

He must also receive substance-abuse counseling.

Cain Catino, 39, was sentenced in Genesee County Court today for the Sept. 20 attempted robbery, which was thwarted when the store owners wrestled Catino to the ground. It was revealed in court later that Catino had a knife on him at the time.

Last month, his mother, Kathleen Catino, 60, admitted she tried to smuggle oxycodone into her son at the Genesee County Jail. She is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

Justin J. Wheeler, 37, of Attica, is charged with driving with ability impaired by drugs and failure to keep right. Wheeler is accused of being involved in an alleged hit-and-run accident on South Main Street, Batavia, and was subsequently stopped on Route 98, Town of Alexander, for allegedly operating erratically. (initial report)

Thomas Anthony Sobczak, 45, of West Main Street, Corfu, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana. Sobczak was stopped on an unidentified road in Batavia at 2:45 p.m., Nov. 15, for allegedly following too closely behind a semi-trailer by Deputy Brian Thompson. Thompson reported allegedly finding marijuana and codeine in Sobczak's possession.

Jeffrey M. Kohorst, 22, of 6105 Main Road, Stafford, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and speeding. Kohorst was stopped at 9:51 p.m., Saturday, in the City of Batavia by Officer Kevin DeFelice.

Michael Todd Dibble, 19, of Indian Falls Road, Corfu, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Dibble was stopped at 11:35 p.m., Saturday, on Route 5, Town of Batavia, for an alleged traffic violation by Deputy Kevin McCarthy.

A 16-year-old of Pratt Road, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. The youth was charged following a traffic stop on Angling Road, Pembroke, by Deputy Brian Thompson. A 16-year-old passenger in the car was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. The 17-year-old driver was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, reckless driving and speeding (90 mph in a 55 mph zone). The reckless driving drive stems from an alleged attempt to elude law enforcement with four passengers in the car.

Gary David Doctor, 28, of East Main Street, Corfu, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and unsafe tires. Doctor was stopped on Route 33, Pembroke by Deputy Brian Thompson.

Dylan James Hawkins, 18, of Hilltop Acres, Morrow Road, Pavilion, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Hawkins was reportedly a passenger in a vehicle stopped on East Avenue by Deputy Brian Thompson. The 17-year-old driver, of Bryant Street, Batavia, was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Teriance M. Schramm, 20, of Edwards Street, Batavia, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of marijuana. Schramm was allegedly seen on Nov. 15 walking down Ross Street with nunchaku ("nunchucks") in his pocket. He was questioned by Deputy Matt Butler and also found to allegedly possess marijuana.

Summer Ogden, 34, of Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt and disobeying a court order. Ogden was arrested by State Police at 8:32 a.m., Saturday. No further details released.

Attica PD has been notified of a suspected hit-and-run driver heading South on Route 98 after allegedly hitting a parked car at 7 South Main St., Batavia.

The suspect truck is a red 2004 Ford F-150.

A Batavia Police officer said the same vehicle was suspected of erratic operation yesterday.

UPDATE 5:42 p.m.: Attica PD has the vehicle stopped in Attica.

UPDATE 5:46 p.m.: A Sheriff's Deputy is on his way to Attica to get the suspect.

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A Town of Le Roy employee working at the transfer station on Circular Hill Road is being accused of taking money from people bringing in garbage and keeping the cash for herself.

Arrested was 52-year-old Dawn Joy Mancuso, of York Road, Le Roy. She is charged with petit larceny and official misconduct.

After receiving numerous complaints about Mancuso taking money, Deputy Ron Meides, dressed in civilian clothes, began a process of dumping garbage at the transfer facility and getting his dump card punched. On the last week, when Meides was low on available punches on his dump card, Meides said Mancuso allegedly took $10 from him and never turned the cash over to the Town of Le Roy.

Meides alleges in his report that Mancuso has been regularly taking cash from transfer station patrons who did not have enough punches on their cards to drop off garbage.

Mancuso allegedly never turned any of this money over to the town.

Michael Richard Mack, 24, of 72 Main St., Le Roy, is charged with two counts of menacing, 2nd, criminal possession of a weapon, 4th, and criminal mischief, 4th. Mack was arrested by Le Roy Police Officer Kyle Slocum following the report of a disturbance at Mack's residence. Mack is accused of twice threatening a guest at his apartment and damaging the victim's mobile phone. Mack was arraigned and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

David James Dole, 28, of 610 Kennedy Road, Cheektowaga, is charged with criminal possession of stolen property. Dole is accused of attempting to use a stolen credit card at two retail locations on Veterans Memorial Drive.

At least one of the six jurors who found Scott Doll not guilty of promoting prison contraband earlier this week is pretty certain Doll did, in fact, transport a balloon of crushed aspirin into the Genesee County Jail.

The proof, however, just wasn't there, she said.

Doll was accused of bringing the aspirin into the jail in violation of law following his conviction of murder for killing Pembroke resident Joseph Benaquist. 

Corrections officers testified to finding Doll in a holding cell on May 20 covered in white powder, with white powder on a sink, the floor and the bed, along with a green balloon sitting on the bed.

The juror -- whom we agreed to identify only as Juror #2 -- called The Batavian today because she was bothered by a statement from Sheriff Gary Maha about the verdict.

"Who knows, maybe they felt sorry for him because he's been convicted of murder and they thought, 'what's this silly little charge?'" Maha told The Batavian.

Nothing could be further from the truth, said Juror #2.

While the juror said she agrees with Maha that it makes no sense to believe anybody with the jail staff gave Doll the aspirin, she just didn't feel the case was made that Doll had the aspirin on his body when he entered the jail.

How it got there, she doesn't know, and Doll is the most likely culprit, but she just couldn't vote to convict him on the available evidence.

"We’re not saying there isn’t anybody who didn’t do their job," the juror said. "We’re not saying that at all. There was just no proof that he brought it in."

She said she was bothered by the fact that the prosecution did not offer the balloon into evidence, that there was no DNA evidence that might show Doll "stuck the balloon up his bum" or no photos were shown to put in perspective how much white powder was found in the jail cell.

The description of the amount of white powder found in the cell, Juror #2 said, left the impression that the amount of aspirin must have made the balloon "the size of a baseball."

She just didn't see how Doll could have hidden a balloon that size on his body and have it go undiscovered through three pat down searches.

The first vote, by secret written ballot, was 5-1 for acquittal. The one juror who favored guilty then asked the other jurors to explain their reasoning. After a short discussion, another vote was taken and "not guilty" was the unanimous decision.

Juror #2 said as far as she's concerned, it never crossed anybody's mine to let Doll off out of some sort of sympathy or that the case seemed too trival to bother with compared to his murder conviction.

"We took the case very serious," she said.

She also admitted that when she was first seated on the jury, she was sure Doll was guilty.

"You just don’t know," she said. "Things totally change when you are sitting in the jury box and you’re listening to all the evidence and you’re listen to all that testimony and you’re like, ‘wait a minute, I didn’t think of that.’"

Sure there's a free speech consideration, District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said when discussing the arrest of local Democrat activist Chris Charvella on a charge of aggravated harassment, 2nd.

But the statute he's charged under has nothing to do with the content of the phone message Charvella left for Republican Legislator Jay Grasso.

The statute is about making a phone call "for no legitimate purpose other than to harass or annoy," Friedman said.

The content of the message matters only in helping to establish intent, and intent is a matter, ultimately, only a judge or jury can decide.

"That's always true," Friedman said.

Critics of Charvella's arrest have expressed concern that the 30-year-old Batavia resident won't get a fair hearing in Genesee County because of his political affiliation.

Friedman, a Republican, said politics plays no part of it.

"I've been in this job 29 years and I challenge anyone to say politics has played a part in my decision making," Friedman said.

The case is being handled by one of Friedman's five assistant attorneys, and as is often the case, he said he isn't personally involved. Friedman said how the case is handled is entirely up to Assistant District Attorney Kevin Finnell.

Because of the jurisdiction of the case -- a town court, where ADAs handle the caseload -- and the nature of the charges, it's a case that he does not routinely follow.

"I don’t intend to get personally involved in this case, so my political affiliation is irrelevant," Friedman said. "My political affiliation is always irrelevant. I don’t look at anybody’s politics when I get involved in a case, neither the victims nor the defendants nor the witnesses nor anybody else."

He added, "I don't get involved just because a case is in the media."

Friedman said he hasn't read the case file and only knows about Charvella's arrest from what he's read in media reports. 

For previous coverage of Charvella's arrest for allegedly harassing Grasso, click here.

Photo: File photo.