byron

An observant resident may have helped the Sheriff's Office yesterday nab a suspect in a series of burglaries in the county.

So far, Jeffery James Leaton, 22, of Caswell Road, Byron, has only been charged with an alleged burglary on Griswold Road, Le Roy.

According to Deputy Chief Jerome Brewster, Leaton was caught in the act at the Griswold Road home after a person reported suspicious activity at the residence.

Brewster said investigators are looking at Leaton as a possible suspect in other burglaries. There have been strings of burglaries reported since early January in Elba, Oakfield, Byron, Bergen and Stafford.

Leaton has been charged with one count of burglary, 2nd, and is accused of making forced entry into the Griswold Road residence. He was allegedly in the process of stealing jewelry.

Following arraignment in Town of Le Roy Court, he was jailed on $20,000 bail.

Sheriff's investigators are actively pursuing leads on a string of burglaries that started in January in Elba, Oakfield, Byron and Bergen.

Chief Deputy Jerome Brewster said investigators believe two different crews are involved in the burglaries.

"The crew in Elba and Oakfield enters with door kick-ins," Brewster said. "The other crew is more sophisticated about getting into a house."

The Elba/Oakfield crew may be associated with a white van. The Byron/Bergen crew (which may be responsible for a burglary in Stafford) may use stolen vehicles.

One vehicle from Bergen is still missing, another has been recovered and a car that was stolen in Henrietta was located in Bergen.

The Elba and Oakfield burglaries have occurred during daylight hours.

There are suspects in the Elba/Oakfield burglaries, Brewster said, and they don't live in the area.

Brewster said residents who see anything suspicious could contact the Sheriff's Office at (585) 343-5000.

"Give us a call," Brewster said. "We love to look into those things."

Residents should be on the lookout for a suspicious vehicle in a neighbor's driveway, a car slowing and apparently trying to check out homes in a neighborhood, and somebody knocking on your door with no apparent need to knock on your door  -- all the sort of things that should be phoned in as suspicious, Brewster said.

Steven Edward Rheinheimer, 18, of Beachwood Place, Cheektowaga, is charged with burglary, 3rd, and petit larceny. Rheinheimer is accused of entering a building in Darien and stealing property some time during the month of December. Rheinheimer allegedly returned to that location at a later date in December and stole property from outside of that building. He was arraigned and released under supervision of Genesee Justice.

Elijah J. Dawson, 18, of 20 North Spruce St., Batavia, is charged with assault, 3rd, and endangering the welfare of a child. Dawson is accused of punching and knocking down another person while in the presence of a child. Dawson was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Troy D. Hubler, 42, of 7634 Byron Holley Road, Byron, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd, failure to appear and unlicensed operation, 2nd. Hubler turned himself in on two warrants. He allegedly violated an order of protection and failed to appear on the unlicensed operation count. Hubler was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Alex S. Dumbleton, 19, of 121 Liberty St., Batavia, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child and harassment, 2nd. Dumbleton is accused of punching a person under age 17 several times.

Derek F. McQueen, 25, of Akron, is charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child. McQueen was arrested by State Police in relation to an alleged incident reported at 1:04 p.m., Jan. 12. No further details were released. McQueen was jailed on $5,000 bail.

Bernard L. Evans, 42, Pavilion, is charged with criminal contempt and harassment, 2nd. Evans was arrested by State Police in connection with an alleged incident reported at 1:17 p.m., Sunday. No further details released. Evans was jailed on $2,500 bail.

In a meeting of cross-town rivals, Elba took down Byron-Bergen, 55-43.

The visiting Lancers used a 15-1 run, 11-1 to end the first half, to pull away from the Bees in a Genesee Region League matchup.

Elba, missing some players, was forced to insert new pieces into the starting lineup. One of those players was Dan Scott, who had a huge game, finishing with a career-high 25 points in the victory.

“It was a good time for him to step up,” said Elba Head Coach Mark Beehler. “Dan, not having a ton of starts this year, he really came through. I knew he was a good ball player, but he really took charge tonight.”

Byron-Bergen, who was also missing a few key players, found their offense when Ranjit Singh hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to single digits with two minutes to play in the third quarter, but Elba responded quickly to end the quarter with six straight points and would never look back.

“We were getting stops on defense and some steals, but we were getting anxious on offense and not taking our time,” Beehler said. “We just needed to slow down and run some offense, when we did that we started to get back on a roll.”

The matchup between schools 10 miles apart is also intriguing because they have merged in several other sports, including football. In fact, eight members of the football team were also members of the basketball team at each school.

“I think it’s fun for the kids to come here, and see their fellow football players and see familiar faces, but when it gets to the court, it’s game time and it’s cutthroat,” Beehler said. “It’s always good sportsmanship between the two schools and good camaraderie.”

One of those players, Nate Jonathan, helped pace Elba (7-5) with seven points and 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Jesse Pflaumer added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Lancers, who currently own a three-game winning streak. 

Jeff Maskell had a team-high 11 points for Byron-Bergen, who falls to 2-9 on the season.

Christina M. Sanchez-Anderson, 24, of 2 Lewis Place, Batavia, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. Sanchez-Anderson is accused of leaving her two children at home alone and unsupervised. Her 3-year-old was allegedly found at 9:58 a.m., Saturday, outside and not wearing any shoes. Sanchez-Anderson was jailed on $2,500 bail. Department of Social Services assisted in the case.

Ashley M. Kreutz, 25, of 10 Lewis Place, Batavia, is charged endangering the welfare of a child. Kreutz allegedly left her two children unsupervised for more than four hours Saturday morning. One child was transported to UMMC for a medical evaluation. Kreutz was jailed on $5,000 bail. Department of Social Services assisted in the case.

Eric J. Bratcher, 24, of 7 1/2 South St., Le Roy, is charged with criminal impersonation, 2nd. Attica PD responded to a report of a complaint of noise and underage drinking at an address on Washington Avenue, Attica, and Bratcher allegedly gave police officers a false name. He was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Wendi L. Provost, 37, of 19 Riverside Parkway, Massena, is charged with DWI, aggravated DWI, driving without headlights and failure to keep right. Provost was stopped 1:10 a.m. on West Main Street by Officer Eric Bolles.

Bryan Pettinella, 27, of131 Bank St,, Apt. A, Batavia, is charged with criminal mischief, 4th. During a verbal argument, Pettinella allegedly punched the car of another person causing damage.

Curtis J. Doward, 18, of 25 Ganson Ave., Batavia, is charged with two counts of failure to appear as directed, criminal contempt, 2nd, and endangering the welfare of a child (second two counts are warrants). Doward turned himself in to Batavia PD on a failure-to-appear warrant. He was jailed on $2,500 bail on each count.

Christopher W. Cummings, 33, of 19 Cherry St., Batavia, is charged with coercion, 2nd, aggravated harassment, 2nd, and harassment, 2nd. Related to a domestic incident, Cummings allegedly sent numerous unwanted text messages in an attempt to compel or induce the victim to engage in conduct she had the legal right to abstain from, thereby threatening her. Cummings is also accused of spitting on the victim.

Christopher W. Colantonio, 23, of 110 South Swan St., Batavia, is charged with a violation of probation. Colantonio was taken into custody by the Probation Department for an alleged violation of probation.

Pavel V. Yefremenko, 24, of 8 Walnut St., Batavia, is charged with DWI, aggravated DWI, speeding and consumption of alcohol in a vehicle. Yefremenko was stopped at 1:27 a.m., Sunday, on West Main Street, Batavia, by Sgt. Dan Coffey.

Kayla Marie Baker, 22, of Union Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Baker is accused of stealing more than $900 in merchandise from Target over a several month period.

Howard Clarance Schultz, 54, of Keeney Road, Le Roy, was arrested on a warrant out of Greece, for aggravated harassment, 2nd. Schultz was located during an incident at 8798 Keeney Road, Le Roy, reported at 9:51 p.m., Friday.  Friday's incident remains under investigation.

Joshua James Burns, 26, of North Main Street, Oakfield, is charged with stalking, 4th. Burns is accused of sending a text message to another person after being warned by law enforcement to cease all contact with the person.

Philip Chase Smith, 28, of South Old Wire Road, North Carolina, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08 or greater and obstructed license plate. Smith was stopped at 11:05 p.m. Friday, on Route 5, Batavia, by Deputy Kevin McCarthy.

Jason Lee Perry, 18, of Telephone Road, Pavilion, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Perry is accused of violating an order of protection barring him from offensive conduct toward a family member.

David Bernard Marsceill, 35, of Old Ford Road, Elba, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, 3rd, strangulation, 2nd, and criminal mischief, 3rd. Marsceill is accused of choking another person during a domestic incident, causing that person to lose consciousness, of damaging a vehicle during the incident and possessing brass knuckles on two separate occasions.

Randy Lee Smith, 55, of Swamp Road, Byron, is charged with petit larceny and trespass. Smith is accused of stealing railroad tie plates located in the CSX Railroad right of way in the area of Route 19, Village of Bergen.

Russell P. Cessna, 24, of Batavia, is charged with burglary, 2nd. Cessna was arrested by State Police in connection with a burglary reported in the Town of Stafford on July 28. No further details released.

Jimmy R. Wenzel, 26, of Wyoming, is charged with criminal mischief, 4th. Wenzel was arrested by State Police in connection with an alleged incident reported at 2:45 a.m., Saturday, in Pavilion. No further details released.

A state Comptroller's audit of the Town of Byron found what might be deemed sloppy bookkeeping in the town court.

While no money is alleged to be missing, several traffic tickets may have gone unpaid.

The audit report dings the town for not conducting annual audits of the court to ensure its books are balanced and items are sufficiently recorded.

Going back to 1985, 629 tickets issued in the Town of Byron are still listed as "pending," including 11 in the 1980s and 84 in the 1990s.

Auditors selected 25 tickets at random to determine what happened to them and found that 13 were either dismissed, a fine was paid, or the case was transferred to another court even though they were still listed as pending with the DMV.

Seven tickets had not being enforced by the court until auditors inquired about them, according to the report.

When fines are not paid on tickets, they are supposed to be reported to the DMV as "scofflawed," and that apparently did not happen with these tickets.

"Every town justice is required to present his/her records and dockets at least once each year to be examined by the Board, or by an independent public accountant," according to the report. "In conducting the review, it is important for the Board to determine whether the Court has effective procedures to ensure the Court’s financial transactions are properly recorded and reported, and that all monies are accounted for properly."

Typically, there is some segregation of duties in a town court, but in Byron, according to the report, the justices (Daniel DiMatteo and James Lamkin (for most of the period of the audit)) performed all of the accounting and reconciliation duties themselves.

"The lack of segregation of duties make the annual audit even more important, however, Town officials failed to provide sufficient evidence that annual audits of the Justices’ books and records were conducted," the report reads.

In response to the audit, the town board informed the Comptroller's office that it will create the position of court clerk and hire a person for the job and perform annual audits of the court records.

Press release:

In efforts to assist Oxbo International Corporation improve upon its quality manufacturing and productivity, National Grid has awarded its Byron plant a Manufacturing Productivity Program Grant.

The grant will be used by Oxbo to help offset the cost of an engineering study on its manufacturing problem solving methodology; development/ validation of appropriate measurements systems; implementation of tools to analyze low-volume variation problems; and, to enhance the Oxbo Product Development Cycle to include best quality practices within their welding department. Oxbo currently utilizes approximately 10,000 different weld configurations which presents high complexity to its problem solving measures and solutions.

“National Grid is committed to assisting and providing value to the manufacturing companies we service,” said Paul Kazmierczak, manager of community and customer management for National Grid in Western New York. “This grant will help ensure Oxbo International is manufacturing its products in the most resourceful method possible.”

“We are very appreciative to National Grid for this $40,000 grant -- it will assist with the development of our next generation corn harvester, which is one of our most important products,” said Gary Stich, president, Oxbo International Corporation. “In our competitive environment, this assistance in improving our efficiency helps to ensure the long term success of the product line.”

National Grid’s Manufacturing Productivity Program provides matching grants of up to $40,000 or 60 percent of the costs incurred by eligible applicants who commit time and resources to lean manufacturing and growth activities.

Oxbo International Corporation develops, manufactures and supplies specialized agricultural equipment for niche market agribusiness worldwide. Oxbo is a direct supplier of much of its equipment, and also utilizes dealers / distributors for certain products and territories. Over the years, Oxbo's product lines have grown to wide acceptance in their markets. Integrity, innovation and superb customer service are time-tested core values of the company’s business practices, and have helped to secure its continuity in an ever-changing agricultural environment. Oxbo currently supplies equipment worldwide to more than 20 countries, making exporting an important part of the business.

At the point this morning I looked outside, it was bright and sunny and I decided I should go for a drive and take some pictures. By the time I actually got out of the house and got fueled up, the clouds were rolling in.

It was still a beautiful morning, however, so I drove through Stafford and Byron and took a few pictures.

Above, from Route 237 looking northeast.

Barn on Transit Road, Byron.

Tree off Transit Road, Byron (across from the barn)

Happy New Year!

Dominique L. Clyburn, 22, of 142 Saxton St., Rochester, is charged with criminal obstruction of breathing, criminal mischief, 4th, and harassment, 2nd. Clyburn was taken into custody by Rochester PD on an arrest warrant out of Batavia City Court and turned over to Batavia PD. Clyburn was jailed on $1,500 bail.

Elizabeth Ann Bucci, 58, of Prestige Crossing, Batavia, is charged with criminal contempt, 2nd. Bucci is accused of placing a phone call to a person she was ordered not to contact.

Casey Thomas Sutherland, 22, of Westside Drive, Churchville, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Sutherland was allegedly found in possession of a small amount of marijuana during a traffic stop by Deputy Jason Saile at 9:20 p.m. Friday on Route 262, Byron.

Jonathan Christopher Pestillo, 18, of Seven Springs Road, Batavia, is charged with two counts of petit larceny. Pestillo is accused of shoplifting from Target on Dec. 16 and Dec. 19.

Jessie Marie Miles, 49, of Walnut Street, Batavia, is charged with petit larceny. Miles is accused of shoplifting at Kmart.

Jason L. Perry, 18, of Pavilion, is charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and driving without a license. Perry was arrested by State Police on an alleged incident reported at 2:32 p.m. Thursday in Pavilion.

A car went off the roadway and into a ditch on Tower Hill Road near Byron Road. Byron and South Byron fire companies are responding along with an ambulance. The car is on its side. The driver is out of the vehicle with "minor injuries, however completely soaked," and possible having symptoms of hypothermia.

UPDATE 3:41 p.m.: Fire crews are told to respond non-emergency.

A two-car accident with injuries is reported in the area of 6719 N. Bergen Road, Byron.

The location is near Merrill Road.

Byron and South Byron fire departments responding.

UPDATE 9:04 a.m.: Byron chief on scene says responding units can come in non-emergency.

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The premiere of the Circle of Giving, a charitable event hosted by Community Action of Orleans & Genesee and local Girl Scouts, is Saturday afternoon at Byron-Bergen High School in the cafeteria. Time is 1 to 3 p.m.

The opening ceremony for the new initiative will begin promptly at 1:15 p.m.

Pat Standish, founder of Angels in Action in Genesee County, will tell a story of hope and inspiration.

You are invited to become a Junior Angel in Giving by providing new or clean, gently used items in good condition. All donations for this event will remain in Genesee County. There will be four donation stations set up:

• Food and Toys
• Pet Supplies
• Coats/Gloves/Hats
• Gift-wrapping supplies

In addition, enjoy holiday crafts and make Christmas cards that will be delivered along with the gifts to the needy. Cookies and punch will be provided. The school is located at 6917 W. Bergen Road in Bergen.

Nicole M. Bilby, 26, of 3476 W. Main St. Road, Batavia, is charged with trespass and resisting arrest. Bilby was allegedly unruly and disruptive while at the Batavia PD at 9:05 p.m., Friday. Officers directed Bilby to leave several times and she allegedly refused to leave. When taken into custody, Bilby allegedly resisted arrest. Bilby was jailed on $1,000 bail.

Joshua L. Baltz, 36, no residence provided, is charged with criminal contempt, 1st, endangering the welfare of a child and harassment, 2nd. Baltz is accused of offensive conduct in violation of an order of protection. Baltz allegedly called the protected person derogatory names and postured in a threatening manner. A child was reportedly present at the time. Baltz was jailed on $5,000 bail.

Rae C. Cook, 23, of 218 Ellicott St., upper, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Cook is accused of threatening and pushing another person while at UMMC at 3 p.m., Saturday.

Tasshire T. Brown Sanders, 18, of 7 Caffery Place, Rochester, is charged with disorderly conduct. Brown Sanders is accused of standing in front of a residence on Oak Street and shouting obscenities and refusing to leave the area.

Eric D. Mancuso, 18, of 20 Woodrow Road, Batavia, is charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. Mancuso was allegedly found in possession of marijuana during at traffic stop at 10:33 p.m., Saturday, by Sgt. Dan Coffey.

Dan'l R. Fischer, 35, of 139 Jackson St., Batavia, was arrested on a bench warrant after allegedly failing to appear for a court date. Fischer was incarcerated in the Livingston County Jail at the time of his arrest.

Jeffrey Lynn Hayes, 48, of Meadow Circle, Avon, is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th. Hayes was turned over to the Sheriff's Office on an arrest warrant out of Town of Byron Court.

A motor-vehicle accident with minor injuries is reported at 6081 Byron Elba Road, east of Byron Road. A utility pole there is snapped in half. South Byron Fire Company is responding.

UPDATE 6:17 p.m.: National Grid is contacted because the pole presents a hazard. No ETA given.

UPDATE 6:26 p.m.: National Grid has a 10-minute ETA. A tow will respond to remove the damaged vehicle(s) after National Grid clears the pole/wires.

A caller reports a microwave fire at 5893 Griswold Road that is now out, but an ambulance is requested to the scene.

The microwave is now in a bathtub full of water.

Byron fire responding. South Byron staging in quarters.

UPDATE 10:05 a.m.: South Byron can go back in service.

UPDATE 10:14 a.m.: Correction, it was Stafford fire that responded. Stafford fire is back in service.