District Attorney Schmidt announces three sentencings in county court...
A Jamestown man has been sentenced to six-years in state prison after pleading guilty to second-degree attempted robbery stemming from incident earlier this year. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says 28 year-old Kyle Senear entered the plea before County Court Judge David Foley... and, also received five-years post-release supervision. The attempted robbery took place in the city last April. Schmidt says Senear was sentenced as a predicate felon... and, thanked Jamestown police for their work on the case.
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Another city man... 25 year-old Alejandro Ayala, was also sentenced this week to two-years in state prison, after pleading guilty to second-degree attempted criminal possession of a weapon. Schmidt says Ayala also received three-years post-release supervision for the Class-D Felony. He says the conviction resulted from an incident back in May of this year.
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A Dunkirk woman also received two-years in state prision... and, one year post-release supervison for violating his probation for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Schmidt adds that 34 year-old Loren Duman was also sentenced to one-year in state prison and one-year post release supervision after violating probation for fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. He says the sentences will be served concurrently. Schmidt says Duman was sentenced in 2017 to five-years probation after pleading guilty to the previously mentioned charges.
Schmidt also announces Jenkins sentencing...
A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to three-years in state prison for second-degree vehicular assault for a 2017 crash in the town of Ellicott in which his passenger was seriously hurt. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says 34 year-old David Jenkins received the indeterminate term from Judge David Foley Monday. Schmidt says the charges were filed in November of 2017 following an accident that occured as Jenkins was trying to flee police. He was indicted by the County Grand Jury for Vehicular Assault and a warrant was issued for his arrest after he fled the area. Jenkins was found in Pennsylvania in 2020 and brought back to Chautauqua County. He pled guilty to the charge in February 2020... and, failed to appear for sentencing and another warrant was issued for his arrest. Jenkins was found in Pennsylvania in January of this year... and, was returned to the jurisdiction for sentencing.
Wendel announces formal plans to merge social services with Dept. of Mental Hygiene...
Chautauqua County Executive P.J. Wendel has announced formal plans to merge Chautauqua County's social services divisions with the Department of Mental Hygiene. Wendel on Tuesday announced the reorganization of the county's human services programs... as well as new leadership structure for the new Department of Mental Hygiene and Social Services. Wendel believes this will "better align" and "further enhance" services to the public. He says the new department will be headed up by current Department of Mental Hygiene Director Carmello Hernandez. He feels it will work because many residents needing help in one area, need the other as well. Wendel says Hernandez will become director of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Social Services... and, Dr. Michael Faulk will serve as the county's Chief Medical Officer and head of the Department of Health. The move is meant to replace former Health and Human Services Director Christine Schuyler... who was not reappointed last month. Wendel says Faulk has been involved from Day-One with his COVID Response Team. The changes will have to go before the County Legislature, and Wendel hopes to have the new structure in place early next year.
Jamestown man arrested for dirtbike theft...
A city man is jailed on $50,000 cash bail for allegedly stealing a dirtbike from a garage in the town of Ripley this past June. State Police in Fredonia say they responded to a complaint June 9 that an unknown person had gotten into the garage on Klondike Road through a window... and, took the Kawasaki dirt bike... which was worth about $4,000. Troopers say they their investigation led to the arrest for 22 year-old Cortland Hepfner for second-degree burglary, and third-degree grand larceny. A few days after the burglary occured... State Police found the bike in the town of Dunkirk and returned it to the owner.
Man from Ripley arrested in attempted assault...
A Ripley man has been arrested for allegedly trying to injure another person during a reported assault late last weekend in the west county town. Sheriff's deputies were called to the undisclosed location just before 5 p.m. last Sunday... and on arrival... found that 33 year-old Patrick Baldwin had intended to cause serious physical injury to another person during the incident. He's accused of striking the victim, and causing injury to that person. Baldwin was arrested for third-degree attempted assault... and, second-degree harassment. He was taken to the County Jail pending Centralized Arraignment.
City of Jamestown sees lower than projected third-quarter sales tax revenues...
There was a slight drop in the amount of sales tax revenue the city of Jamestown took in during the third-quarter of this year compared to 2021. However... one of the city's top financial people says they're still on track to make this year's projections. New Deputy Comptroller Catie Maycock reported to the City Council during Monday night's work session that the city received $2.26-million between July and September. That's about $48,000 less than anticipated... but, Maycock adds the city has reached 74.7% of projected revenues at the end of three quarters.
