In Pavilion Town Court today, Pavilion Attorney Jamie Welch agreed that Steven Weber has complied with a requirement to remove illegally stored vehicles from his property at 11076 Lake Road.
There are still at least a dozen vehicles that need to be removed from the property of his parents, Jacob and Mary Weber, at 11256 Perry Road, Pavilion.
Because of the progress Weber has made, his attorney, Richard Sherwood, and Welch reached an agreement to delay Weber's sentencing for two weeks in order to give him more time to remove the disabled vehicles from his parent's property.
On July 9, Steven Weber entered a guilty plea to a 15-count indictment accusing him of violating the state's property maintenance code. Jacob Weber admitted to 46 such violations.
Both were scheduled to be sentenced today, but the sentencing has been postponed until Aug. 27.
In exchange for the delay, both agreed to waive their right to appeal whatever sentences they receive.
Under a prior plea agreement, Jacob Weber will not receive any jail time, but he could still be fined a maximum of $750 per violation of the code.
Steven faces the possibility of jail time plus a $350 per-violation fine.
Jacob's fine is higher because of a prior conviction on the same charges within the past five years.
In court today, Steven disputed that there were really 15 violations on his property, saying that there were only 11 disabled, unregistered vehicles on his property. Sherwood reminded him he had already entered a guilty plea to 15 counts.
Sherwood said there are 18 remaining cars on Jacob's property that Steven owns. At least six of the vehicles are in fact licensed. Of the remaining cars, they haven't been removed because the brakes have seized and the wheels can't turn.
Sherwood said those cars will need to be jacked up and the brakes repaired or removed before the wheels will turn and the cars can be placed on flatbed trailers and hauled away.
While Welch was willing to go along with a delay in sentencing, he wasn't willing to give the Webers much credit for progress made.
"We disagree with the defendant that he has made a lot of progress," Welch said. "In March he received a letter containing all the charges and nothing was done. Several months went by with no progress. Now he tells the court the cars are in such a state of disrepair from their long storage that their wheels are seized and some of them need to be dug out of the earth. We are trying to work with Mr. Weber here. We've given him every chance. If he comes back in 14 days and there's a single violation, the court will have full discretion to sentence him up to the maximum."
When asked if he understood the terms of the extension, Steven Weber said he did, but wanted to dispute some of the statements made by Welch.
When his attorney tried to quite him, Steven said, "but it ends up in The Batavian and I don't appreciate what winds up in The Batavian."
Prior to the hearing, Weber spoke with The Batavian briefly and said the stories about his case have been inaccurate. He said his cars are not junk. He said he wasn't willing to talk further at this time.
Sherwood told Weber he will be able to tell the court anything he wants about the case at his sentencing on Aug. 27.
