Skip to main content

Law and Order: Hunter allegedly found with stolen handgun

By Howard B. Owens

David E. Stone, 63, of Route 237, Le Roy, is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, 2nd. Department of Environmental Conservation officers were investigating a report of a person hunting with a rifle in the area of Morganville Road, Stafford, when they came into contact with Stone. Stone was allegedly in possession of a shotgun, loaded rifle and a loaded .357 caliber revolver. Stone is accused of not possessing a valid pistol permit. It's alleged that the revolver was stolen from a residence in the Town of Le Roy sometime within the past three years. Stone also faces possible DEC charges.

Jame Albert Hancock, 45, of Dellinger Avenue, Batavia, was arrested on a warrant for alleged failure to appear in October on a criminal possession of a controlled substance, 7th, charge. Hancock was held on $1,000 bond.

Kara Ellen Wojkowski, 31, of State Street, Batavia, is charged with harassment, 2nd. Wojkowski was allegedly involved in a fight with another person in her household.

Jessica L. Ford, 23, of Oak Street, is charged with assault, 3rd. Ford allegedly hit another person causing pain and injury. She was jailed on $2,500 bail.

Richard C. Smith, 47, of Ross Street, Batavia, is charged with DWI and driving with a BAC of .08 or greater. Smith was stopped at 3:21 a.m. Sunday on West Main Street by Officer Peter Flanagan.

Francis George Germuga, 54, of Stringham Drive, Batavia, is charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08, improper U-turn, moving from lane unsafely and consumption of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

John Roach

Jason, it does not say he was hunting deer. But if he was, it is not legal yet to hunt deer with a rifle in Genesee County. Big issue is not hunting, but the stolen handgun.

Dec 17, 2014, 10:21am Permalink
Jason Crater

You're right, I made an assumption on the deer hunting. And I get that the possibly stolen handgun/not having a valid pistol permit is the crux of the arrest, but it still strikes me as ridiculous to go afield armed to the teeth like that.

Sorry if you disagree.

Dec 17, 2014, 11:18am Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Jason: Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm guessing that you are one of the people that agree with Cuomo's NYSafe act. Remember when he broke wind into the microphone, proclaiming "Nobody NEEDS 10 bullets to kill a deer" (or whatever his exact wording was)?

Nobody said this guy NEEDED this much armament. Maybe he WANTED to be that heavily armed. I would suppose, possibly, he could've been out hunting, and decided it would be a good time to test his shotgun 'skill', and brought the rifle in case he spotted quarry outside the shotgun's 'reach'. Who knows?

As long as it isn't illegal (which, allegedly, the pistol was), who feels they can tell a FREE American that they can only carry 1 weapon? That'll probably be included in "NYSafe, the sequel". Until it does, though, please don't try to limit a free person's choices.

Dec 17, 2014, 1:22pm Permalink
Jason Crater

I assure you, I'm squarely against the Safe Act. In addition, I said nothing about limiting the rights of anyone.

All I said was that it is ridiculous to bring all that weaponry out on a hunt. You provided a good example of a time that it would make sense to do so. For that, I commend you.

In the future, I would appreciate if you didn't make the leap from what I said to what you think I said. It causes too much confusion.

Dec 17, 2014, 2:14pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Touche'. And, you are correct. As I was replying directly to you in comment #7, please disregard the last sentence of my comment.

Dec 17, 2014, 2:32pm Permalink
Jason Crater

It's a little early for a beer! Might be kind of fun to have a thebatavian.com happy hour sometime and meet some of you people face to face.

Dec 18, 2014, 8:59am Permalink
Tim Miller

I'm not a hunter, but I can see someone carrying three weapons on a deer hunt.

I don't think it is uncommon to walk miles from a car to your deer stand. You might carry two rifles in case one gets jammed or (like my neighbor described on one hunt) the rifle falls out of the stand, landing barrel-first into mud, becoming unusable. The second rifle saves the trek back to the car.

The third weapon? A pistol for protection from bears, wild dogs, and maybe even flying squirrels who think you are hunting Moose. (that last one was a joke, son....)

Dec 18, 2014, 3:35pm Permalink

Authentically Local