Tenney jailed, but not yet sentenced in embezzlement case

Posted by Howard Owens on November 6, 2009 - 10:53am
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Paul R. Tenney will spend tonight in jail, even though he was not sentenced today for admitting he stole more than $106,000 from Elcon, Inc..

Judge Robert Noonan agreed to postpone sentencing Tenney until he gets proof that Tenney attended an in-patient treatment program for substance abuse.

But there's no reason to let him go free since he apparently violated the terms of his pre-sentencing release. Plus, Tenney has purportedly trained his replacement at Elcon on its finance system, so his freedom is no longer warranted in that regard.

Elcon owner Edmend Leising told District Attorney Lawrence Friedman that Tenney wasn't all that cooperative. But the issue seems to be resolved.

"(Leising) is not asking for anything further at this point," Friedman said.

Attorney Gary Horton said he didn't understand Friedman's statement.

"He said he’s been at Elcon every day and trained the person hired to replace him," Horton said.

Posted by Dave Olsen on November 6, 2009 - 12:38pm
Hope he didn't teach his replacement how to steal
Posted by William Wombatski on November 6, 2009 - 2:55pm
This entire story is difficult to swallow; both of the parties involved are good, hometown folks. Mr. Leising is a wonderful person who has done a lot for the community. I am sad to hear that business is tough right now. If anyone can recover from it, Ed can. Mr. Tenney comes from great stock. He was also a star athlete during his days at Batavia HS. I witnessed a couple of perfect bowling games at Mancuso's back in the day by Ryan. He could also throw a baseball harder than anyone else I played against. If I remember correctly, he was approaching 90 mph when he was a young teen!
All-in-all, I hate to hear this about an influential business leader like Mr. Leising and a former star-athlete like Ryan.
Let's all hope everything gets back on track for all parties involved.
Posted by Howard Owens on November 6, 2009 - 6:41pm
As I understand it, Mr. Tenney and Mr. Grazioplene were peers and both great athletes and highly regarded as youths. And here they were today in court in back-to-back cases. Most unfortunate.
Posted by Thomas Mooney on November 7, 2009 - 1:26pm
Howard yoe are right , both Tenney and Grazioplene were both great athletes . Unfortunatly the down fall for both of them was natural talent and not having to be accountable .Both of these guys had the natural athletic ability to go pro but were put on a pedistal at a very young age . This led them to believe they coud do anything they wanted and not have to worry getting into trouble . Both men out in town were very arrogant and disrespectful along with being drunk . St. Nicks lost a lot of bar buisness when these guys got into trouble and now st. Nicks is closed .
Posted by Don Herdlein on November 17, 2009 - 12:47pm
St. Nick's closed because of all of the dis-honesty of board members from the past. I'm not commenting on Ryan Tenney. As far as Paul is concerened he did nothing but contribute and donate to St. Nick's club. As far as his actions are concerned he has paid his debt to society everytime he has found himself in trouble. Maybe we shouldn't put youths on a pedistals, and maybe when Paul was a young business owner everyone shouldn't have been coming to him with their hands out looking for something adding to the pressure. Unless you are a shrink you shouldn't comment on why people find themselves in certain situations.
Posted by Bea McManis on November 17, 2009 - 1:25pm
Posted by Don Herdlein on November 17, 2009 - 12:47pm
As far as his actions are concerned he has paid his debt to society everytime he has found himself in trouble.

Herein lies the problem. Paying his debt to society EVERYTIME he has found himself in trouble would indicate that there was no change in behavior. If you are in trouble, just grease the wheels and it will be okay until the next time.
I don't know either men so I'm not commenting on their actions, but, Don, saying that paying makes it okay until next time just reinforces the belief that their "star" status (on the local level) gave them license for inappropriate and illegal actions with no real concern for the consequences.
Posted by Don Herdlein on November 19, 2009 - 3:47pm
I don't believe there hasn't been a change in behavior. I think some people at some point or points in their lives do make the wrong decisions either under the influence or just poor judgement. That doesn't make them terrible people or mean that they feel they are invincible.