Gazette Wins FOIL Appeal With DA For Arrest Reports
Posted on Wednesday, 15 of July , 2009 at 12:18 pm
GLENS FALLS—Four days after the “handyman” that the Warren-Hamilton Counties Community Action Agency was sending into the homes of senior citizens and income eligible people seriously damaged the home of a Chestertown resident and engaged in abuse and threats, he was arrested for unlawful possession of marijuana.
Two weeks later, convicted felon Lemar Dean was arrested for stealing a debit card from his own daughter.
Since Lynn Ackershoek, CAA executive director, assigned Dean to various handyman projects throughout the county under the CAA’s “Handyman Program” including the Chestertown project, Dean has been arrested six times. The thing is, there was no disclosure to the homeowner of Dean’s previous criminal record and incarceration in state prison or his lack of expertise in performing household repairs.
Dean was being sent into the homes of low income and elderly individuals in Warren and Hamilton Counties under the CAA program. The man is such a “handyman”, he was armed only with a hammer and a handsaw. He had no power tools, no measuring tape. Not even a Phillips screwdriver.
Under the Handyman Program, CAA is supposed to provide assistance for minor home repairs for income eligible homeowners and renters. Free labor is provided and the homeowner pays for materials.
The CAA hierarchy didn’t bother to tell homeowners about the man’s record or his abusive nature and has steadfastly dodged responsibility for Dean along with the Warren County Board of Supervisors which contracts with CAA to provide certain services in the county and to operate the county’s Alternative Sentencing Program.
In addition to animal cruelty, criminal contempt and misapplication of property, Dean was arrested for three degree menacing on April 27 after he allegedly pulled a knife on a man during a verbal argument, allegedly over drugs. According to arrest reports, Dean had also been charged in October 2007 for third degree menacing
According to state Penal Law, a person is guilty of menacing in the third degree, a misdemeanor, when, by physical menace, he or she intentionally places or attempts to place another person in fear of death, imminent serious physical injury or physical injury.
And Ackershoek, Warren County and the CAA were sending this man into homes in Warren and Hamilton Counties.
What do you suppose would happen if CAA sent a convicted felon into a home to do repairs and that felon ripped off the homeowner or killed or seriously injured the homeowner? Just whose liability would that be?
In May, after Dean’s last arrest for second degree criminal contempt, apparently for violating an order of protection which required him to stay away from the victim of the menacing, The North Country Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the Warren County District Attorney’s office of Kate Hogan seeking the arrest reports pertaining to Dean.
After extensive delays and failure to comply with FOIL provisions, DA legal assistant Marie Johnston refused to provide Dean’s arrest reports, stating that “I am not authorized to provide any additional information on cases that are pending”.
After NCG challenged her position, informing her that arrest reports were public records after the investigation of a person was closed and an arrest made, Johnston changed her reason to “I am not authorized to provide any additional information in pending litigation” but failed to identify the alleged litigation that was pending.
The North Country Gazette appealed the denial to the Warren County Attorney’s office and on Monday, July 13, won the appeal with assistant county attorney Amy C. Bartlett concurring that arrest records are indeed public records, providing seven such that pertained to Dean.
10/17/07 Menacing Third Degree, New York State Police
10/17/08 Unlawful Possession Of Marijuana, Glens Falls Police
10/30/08 Petit Larceny and Possession of Stolen Property, Glens Falls Police
12/19/08 Misapplication of Property, Warren County Sheriff’s Office
2/17/09 Inhumane Treatment of an Animal, Glens Falls PD and Warrant Arrest By Warren County Sheriff’s Office
4/26/09 Aggravated Unlicensed Operation 2nd Degree, Glens Falls Police
4/27/09 Menacing Third Degree, Glens Falls Police
5/12/09 Criminal Contempt, 2nd Degree
Dean caused extensive damage to the residence of one Chestertown homeowner and thereafter, CAA and Warren County didn’t want to talk about the issue even though a notice of claim has been filed, a precursor to a lawsuit.
They have refused to make restitution for the damage caused by their employee, they refuse to discuss it and have declined to conduct a 50h hearing which would help facilitate an early resolution of the matter without litigation.
Dean, 39, of Bacon St., Glens Falls, a Hispanic with an abusive demeanor and a conviction for burglary, just released from parole, was sent into a Chestertown home last October to repair a door and flooring.
Instead of repairs, he took the home apart and then left it with unrepaired holes in the floor, damaged outside areas of the home and left the rear door hanging by three screws, unusable, taking the rest of the screws with him after scattering debris all over the back yard and digging deep ruts in the yard while peeling out in his truck. Now it’s learned that at the time, he was operating without a drivers license and four days later, he was arrested for drug possession.
While in the home, he engaged in a near steady stream of verbal abuse, profanities and threats, tried to con money from the homeowner and threatened to damage the home beyond repair and have it condemned.
Michael J. O’Connor, Glens Falls Fourth Ward supervisor, is the chairman of the CAA board and he has done little to address the issue other than making several obviously false statements, claiming in January that the matter was being reviewed by Warren County attorney Paul Dusek and an insurance company which he refused to identify.
O’Connor also claimed that the issue had been reviewed by the state Attorney General’s office and the state Consumer Protection Board. However, neither of those agencies have contacted the homeowner. Dusek refuses to discuss the issue with the homeowner and no one from any insurance company has contacted either the homeowner or the contractor the homeowner had to engage in order to rectify the health and safety issues caused by Dean and CAA and to repair the damage caused by Dean, making O’Connor’s credibility an issue.
O’Connor has announced he is not seeking reelection.
Other county supervisors on the ACEO board are Glens Falls Ward 3 supervisor Harold Taylor, Queensbury county supervisor Fred Champagne, Hague supervisor Daniel Belden, Lake George supervisor Louis Tessier and Stony Creek supervisor Frank Thomas.
Ackershoek had refused to identify the members of the CAA board or provide any information about the operations of CAA claiming that the agency is exempt under the state’s Freedom of Information Law. However, Robert Freeman, executive director of the state’s Committee on Open Government, disagrees. Freeman says that because the agency functions in accordance with the Federal Economic Opportunity Act of 1954, it is required to disclose its records, albeit with some exceptions such as the names of the clients it serves in protecting privacy rights.
Information concerning the operation of CAA appears to be a big secret—-so far.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/03/16/lemar_dean/
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/04/13/caa_dodgeball/
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2008/11/05/handyman_felons/
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2009/05/22/caa_handyman/ 7-15-09
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Category: Adirondacks, Animals, Consumers, Courts, Crime, Drugs, New York State, Warren County
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