A former manager of the Auburn Family Restaurant said she was innocent during her arraignment in Cayuga County Court on charges she stole from her former employer.

Marie L. Shimer, of 84 Osborne St., pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of third-degree larceny.

A grand jury indicted the 52-year-old woman on allegations she stole more than $3,000 from the Genesee Street diner's safe last summer and replaced it with a note asking the owners not to get her in trouble. Shimer went to Florida after allegedly taking the money. The money was the amount the restaurant earns in commission from sales of the lottery tickets.

She also was indicted on charges she took two bank deposit bags that contained the eatery's proceeds from a week, totaling $3,049, and that she wrote a check to herself from the restaurant's account in the amount of $6,000.

Shimer said Tuesday that the check was related to a loan.

Also in court:

€ Brian Syrell, 19, was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison and $5,000 in fines for a burglary he took part in while he was on parole.

The Auburn teenager failed to appear for sentencing on Jan. 3, 2006. However, prior to the sentencing, the court warned Syrell that it would sentence him even if he did not attend. Judge Mark Fandrich levied the $5,000 fine because Syrell failed to appear.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann asked the judge to consider the fact that they haven't heard an explanation as to why he did not appear, and added he ran from the police later that week.

Syrell informed Fandrich of his accomplishments while incarcerated, including getting his general education diploma and completing an alcohol and substance abuse treatment program.

The teen originally had his sentencing for a third-degree burglary charge postponed to allow him to cooperate with city narcotics officers, but he failed to follow through on that agreement, Budelmann said.

Syrell burglarized 81 Osborne St. along with two others Sept. 20, 2006.

€ Todd King, 35, will be registered as a level two sex offender, which means there's a moderate risk of him reoffending. King, of last known address 3 Derby Ave., Auburn, was sentenced to six months in the Cayuga County Jail and 10 years probation for the felony of third-degree rape. He admitted having sexual intercourse twice with a 16-year-old girl.

€ Gale Roponi faced a drug charge of allegedly possessing marijuana in Sterling, but police found he faces an older charge of leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in injury or death in Rhode Island in September 1990.

€ Three state prison inmates saw the judge on unrelated incidents at Auburn Correctional Facility in which all men were allegedly in possession of homemade weapons, authorities said.

Lester Rufus, 26, pleaded innocent to promoting prison contraband. The count carries the possible sentence of two to four years. Corrections officers said they found an ice-pick style weapon made from the handle of a toothbrush on Rufus after he reportedly stabbed another inmate in the face with it.

Willie Tillis, 21, entered an innocent plea for a count of promoting prison contraband.

Correction officers reported that they found the Rochester man with a flat metal shank with a handle made from electrical tape.

The possible sentence is two to four years.

His lawyer Joseph Sapio, told the judge his client may plead guilty once Tillis reviews the paperwork with him.

Hector Martinez's arrangement was postponed to give the court time to arrange for an Spanish language interpreter. Corrections officers said they saw another convict pass a weapon to Martinez after using it to stab a fellow inmate eight times in the shoulder in June 2006.

Staff writer Jessica Soule can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 267 or jessica.soule@lee.net