ROCHESTER - A former police official pleaded guilty to a variety of theft and official misconduct charges - including trying to pin crimes on residents who criticized him - in a scandal that rocked the sheriff's department in rural Seneca County.
James Larson, 47, who resigned as the department's undersheriff in March 2006 a few months after misconduct complaints surfaced, drew a 21-month jail sentence Wednesday in Waterloo, the county seat, after apologizing and accepting responsibility for his conduct.
Former Sheriff Leo Connolly is awaiting trial this summer on official misconduct charges that he too targeted his Internet critics with “selective enforcement” and offered a sheriff's deputy overtime pay to carry out his orders. Four of his deputies were also implicated.
Larson, a father of two, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal possession of stolen property and four misdemeanor counts of petit larceny and official misconduct dating back to January 2005.
He was jailed in neighboring Ontario County.
“This was very shocking, egregious conduct for anybody, let alone the No. 2 law enforcement officer in the county. It was very brazen,” prosecutor R. Michael Tantillo said in an interview.
If convicted, Larson could have been sentenced to 15 months to four years in prison.
Among the accusations Larson admitted were stealing a colleague's shotgun as well as more than $1,000 worth of sheriff's office property.
He switched four tires from a patrol car onto his own vehicle and carried out a paying job for a lakeside homeowner while on duty, Tantillo said.
In addition, Larson directed two sheriff's deputies to target two people who posted political attacks on him and the sheriff on a popular Web site in western New York's Finger Lakes region. The deputies were told to pursue “enforcement of traffic infractions or anything they could find,” the prosecutor said.
Nobody was ever ticketed or arrested, however, because the deputies didn't follow those orders.
Connolly, who took over as sheriff of Seneca County in 2004, took a personal leave after he was charged last August and did not seek re-election in the fall. If convicted, he could get a maximum 28 months to seven years in prison.
Former Sheriff Leo Connolly is awaiting trial this summer on official misconduct charges that he too targeted his Internet critics with “selective enforcement” and offered a sheriff's deputy overtime pay to carry out his orders. Four of his deputies were also implicated.
Larson, a father of two, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal possession of stolen property and four misdemeanor counts of petit larceny and official misconduct dating back to January 2005.
He was jailed in neighboring Ontario County.
“This was very shocking, egregious conduct for anybody, let alone the No. 2 law enforcement officer in the county. It was very brazen,” prosecutor R. Michael Tantillo said in an interview.
If convicted, Larson could have been sentenced to 15 months to four years in prison.
Among the accusations Larson admitted were stealing a colleague's shotgun as well as more than $1,000 worth of sheriff's office property.
He switched four tires from a patrol car onto his own vehicle and carried out a paying job for a lakeside homeowner while on duty, Tantillo said.
In addition, Larson directed two sheriff's deputies to target two people who posted political attacks on him and the sheriff on a popular Web site in western New York's Finger Lakes region. The deputies were told to pursue “enforcement of traffic infractions or anything they could find,” the prosecutor said.
Nobody was ever ticketed or arrested, however, because the deputies didn't follow those orders.
Connolly, who took over as sheriff of Seneca County in 2004, took a personal leave after he was charged last August and did not seek re-election in the fall. If convicted, he could get a maximum 28 months to seven years in prison.
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