Police Beat: Alleged mailbox caper leads to charges in Bergen

Top billing! Only in Genesee County can you be arrested for trying to recycle an abandoned rusty mailbox. A mailbox that you carefully sprayed out every month over each summer for 7 years to remove the bees, bee nests and honeycombs so your kids, yourself and the dear mail lady would not get stung. When my mailbox door finally fell off for good last week I bought a new mailbox and had it in the garage. As I tore off the old one from the "community" post across the street, a post that houses 2 other community mailboxes,I thought why not just recycle the abandoned box? Even though I knew nobody has used that box in the 7 years I have been here, I thought maybe I should just double check and do a reverse address search on the internet. The names came up and they were not anyone who live or have lived in this small community since I have been here. I sprayed the front cover with black primer to cover the rust and used water soluble paint to temporarily put my number on the letter slot cover as it was late and I did not have light to do a permanent job. The neighbor across the street had GCSD here within 1/2 hour. I showed the deputy my new mailbox (still in the box!)in the garage and explained the situation. I told him i was only trying to make use of something obviously discarded. I also told him about the reverse address check. I told him I certainly did not need the box and even offered the cans of bee spray and primer to the neighbor to fix up the mailbox he has never used. The arrest came yesterday after the asst. DA told the deputy what to charge me with: Petit Larceny and criminal mischief 4th. Now maybe you all can help. I have looked up these charges in the NYS penal law book online and I can't find anything that remotely resembles what happened. Am I missing something? By the way the neighbor removed "his" box sometime in the night. Oh, and I did not "took" the mailbox anywhere?!?!

Michele - Top Billing? Sorry, you brought it up and I couldn't resist. Old school.

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Michelle, try this website. http://www.expertlaw.com/ It has a lot of F A Q's and a forum where you can ask a question and get some explanations and opinions. There are lawyers who'll give you a free consultation. I would only go to someone who has been recommended by someone you trust. Or you could just talk to your neighbor and ask what the problem really is, and what it would take for them to drop the charges. I'm assuming you have already done that.

Thanks Dave. If this guy was of normal sound mind it would not be like this. If I mentioned his name most in Bergen have heard of him and or have had their own run in with him. Lets just say he is volatile. my first year here I used to snowblow his driveway as a curtesy. My ex the deadbeat showed up the following spring 2 hours late for visitation demanding his child who was not home by then. He proceeded to have a meltdown on my porch which nosy neighbor brought himself into. He actually came out to the street to get a good rubber necker and coax the ex over. Can you say mortified? 2 months and several tall tales later I found myself in family court with the ex and his witnesses nosy neighbor and recent ex- husband. Deadbeat knew we had just finished in family court so he contacted ex hubby knowing he would jump on the train. All is fair in love and war I guess! They taunted me and laughed at me while I squirmed. Honestly who else has this life? I am a working mom and could count the number of times I have had a drink in the past 7 years on 3 fingers. I don't have rowdy friends over...nothing. Apparently nosy can talk a very good articulate talk but falls short on the walk. Fortunately the Judge asked good questions and saw through the smokescreen. Despite this episode I continued to plow out his driveway to show I am not petty but I no longer do as I am now afraid of him and was warned I should be. Nosy's verbal assaults have continued periodically over the years but have been worse when directed at friends or contractors who come while I am at work. I have tried to get the police to intervene on a few occasions but was told he can curse all day long as long as he doesn't come on my property. For some reason it is not considered cursing in "public." I stay away from him and try never to look his way. I would never go up to him and try to talk. If you knew him you would understand.

Gotcha, well good luck, I hope it turns out OK for you.

This goes to show that there are two sides to every story.

When we lived in Rochester, we had neighbors who parked in our driveway, preventing us from getting in or out.

Confronting them only made them behave worse. Once THEY called the police and wanted to file charges against us for harrassing them. Luckily, we moved to Corfu shortly after that.

Where is the outrage? I just woke up after sleeping several hours since I was too hyped to sleep at all last night after the arrest. I cannot understand what I did that warrants charges. Nothing stolen, nothing damaged, no intentional or malicious act. I awoke crying and feel profoundly depressed. I have been through many things but always managed to keep the smile on my face and stay upbeat. Petit Larceny is a misdemeanor! Now add criminal mischief! This will go to trial for sure. I guess I thought I would see at least one person be upset about their wasted tax dollars. My kids are devastated that I have decided on moving out of this county but they understand now that I have a bullseye on my back.I guess I will skulk off now... How about a picture of the alleged scene of the crime, Howard?

For what it's worth, Michele, I am outraged. This is another case where the cops don't seem to think a law has been broken or that what occurred warrants an arrest, but are sent back later by the DA with charges that don't make sense. Perhaps the DA has to prosecute a certain quota of cases in order to justify their budget?

It is also an outrage because this might be another example of a person maliciously using the police and the legal system to inflict damages upon someone else; the costs of defending one's self against spurious charges can be crippling - and everyone knows that. I hope the charges are dropped and this blows over without anymore trouble.

As an aside: Perhaps if there were a whisper of politics (and an Ewok) involved, it would draw more outrage.

I think it's a rather, for lack of a better term, shitty situation. Hopefully the powers that be will realize the errors of their way. In the meantime Michele, here is your very own Ewok. Maybe this will help bring more outrage!

<img src="http://www.campped.com/images/ewokmail2.JPG"&gt;

I hope this case gets dropped as it would be a big waste of everyone's time. Good luck. Take a deep breath - it will work out to your advantage, I'm sure.

Love my EWOK, Justin, it brought a smile to my face...and the mailbox takes it to another level haha! Thanks for lifting my spirits!

You are right Brandon about this being another example of using the legal system to inflict damages. Let me tell you another part of the story...
After deadbeat dad went over to Nosy's, more stuff continued. When ex hubby came for visitation Nosy would call him over to spread gossip on me. Once when I was returning home and ex hubby was waiting to drop off the child. Nosy was in MY driveway talking to him. I call him Nosy because he is always looking over here watching everything sorta like a peeping Tom. Even at night when I go to lock the door I often see his outline at the window. Whatever he sees he makes into a story: my guests (a couple) who stayed overnight were out on the porch smoking at 1am. I was in bed. The story came out to my ex husband that I had an all night party, drinking and partying with 2 men. Another: my handyman I hire brought out some old drywall from the garage to dispose of. The story: I had built another bedroom and had or was getting a new room mate. Thats how he thinks and he is always in my business. I have hesitated to say anything publicly for fear I would never be able to sell my house. I may as well live in a toxic dump. When i had enough, I called the police and made a complaint to the deputy. Keep in mind I am not the type of person to just have people arrested, so I just asked him to give a warning for Nosy to leave me alone. This was just before the Family Court hearing. A week later, THE SAME DEPUTY arrived here with an order of protection for me to stay away from Nosy and his wife!!!I was SHOCKED! The deputy did not seem to remember being here in my kitchen for half hour while I complained the week before...or at least pretended not to.
Nosy brought the O.O.P out at Family court and the Judge was as shocked as I was. He was actually outraged, and did whatever to make the order no good. I have suspicion that Nosy still keeps it around to show the police anyway. Come to find out the wife who has lived in Bergen all her life had gone to Judge Kolmetz and he gave her the order on her word as he knew her father. When i went to him myself and explained, he said he would either give me one too or void theres. A few days later when I called him he seemed to forget and just said they are a good family and won't hurt me. I found out later that he doesn't even know Nosy, just the wife's family. UGH. It really is who you know. And once in trouble always guilty. Frustrating. By the way, I just learned the wife's name the other day.I have only ever seen her from a distance and NEVER had any interaction with her. If I walked up to her i am sure I would not recognize her.