A 31-year-old woman in the City of Batavia is requesting transfer to UMMC after being unable to sleep after "overdosing on bath salts last night." Mercy medics and police are responding.
A rider is down in the road and not moving following a car and motorcycle crash at 4575 Barrville Road in Elba. Two ambulances -- a Mercy rig and one from Oakfield -- are called to respond and Mercy Flight as well. The accident is blocking traffic and injuries are serious.
UPDATE 6:33 p.m.: A second helicopter is requested. A portion of Barrville Road is being shut down.
UPDATE 6:38 p.m.: The location is between Bridge Road and Chapel Street. The second helicopter is directed to the scene, to land between two homes, for the more seriously injured patient.
UPDATE 6:43 p.m.: One bird has landed safely and the other one is going to land at the ARC facility's parking lot.
UPDATE 6:46 p.m.: Elba Fire Department is on scene as are fire police.
UPDATE 6:49 p.m.: The first helicopter is airborne to Strong Memorial Hospital with the most seriously injured patient -- the rider. The second bird is about 5 minutes out from the landing zone at the ARC parking lot and will be transporting a 20-year-old female who has an extremely severe slash at the joint on her right knee. She had no loss of consciousness.
UPDATE 6:58 p.m.: The second Mercy Flight ship has landed safely.
UPDATE 7:07 p.m.: The second helicopter is airborne and also headed to Strong.
UPDATE 7:15 p.m.: The Oakfield ambulance is inbound to UMMC with a 9-year-old girl who has cuts on her wrist, arm, knee and ankle as well as back and neck pain. She is accompanied by her mother, who was not injured in the accident. The child was a passenger in the backseat on the driver's side of the vehicle, which was struck from behind by the motorcycle.
UPDATE 7:42 p.m.: The motorcycle is still in the roadway and fire police are remaining on scene until it's removed. The bike is said to be a 1999 yellow Honda, registered to a man in Penn Yan.
UPDATE 8:03 p.m.: The road is reopened. Elba is back in service.
Firefighters and equipment from Alexander, Bethany and Darien are heading to Wyoming County to provide mutual aid at a structure fire at 1136 Creek Road in Attica, which is off Lindsey Road.
A two-car accident that is blocking traffic is reported at West Main Street and Redfield Parkway. A pregnant female is said to have a minor injury. City fire and Mercy medics are responding.
A 23-year-old driver in her seventh month of pregnancy is being taken to UMMC with a complaint of lower back pain. Her vehicle was rear-ended by another car. She was seat-belted.
UPDATE 3:27 p.m.: A second ambulance that was called is taking two females to UMMC. The 29-year-old driver has arm pain and a laceration. A 5-year-old has right cheek and chin pain.
A caller reported to dispatch that her neighbor's pit bull was threatening her and threatening her husband and she wanted to speak to an officer about it.
She promptly called back and said the matter was resolved and she didn't need to speak with anyone.
"The dog must've apologized," said an officer.
"That's interesting," replied the dispatcher.
Sheriff's deputies are responding to Batavia Downs Casino parking lot to investigate a complaint of about 20 cats locked in a white van with no one is sight.
The same kind of complaint involving the same vehicle was called in in June. The van was in Tops parking lot in Le Roy and the registered owners said they were not homeless, just between homes, and they were living in the van temporarily and that was why they had so many cats inside.
UPDATE 7:25 p.m.: Apparently, the caller's description was hyperbole. The deputy on scene says he's found five cats inside and the windows are open and the van is vented.
A car has struck a guard rail at Pearl Street Road and Upton Road in the Town of Batavia. There are believed to be no injuries. Law enforcement is responding.
A general fire alarm sounded at the Jell-O Gallery Museum at 23 E. Main St., Le Roy, after a child pulled the alarm and people on site don't know how to shut it off. There is no smoke or fire and the alarm company is in contact with county emergency dispatch.
The building has been evacuated nonetheless and an officer on scene says a large crowd is gathered there. Le Roy Fire and Ambulance is responding.
UPDATE 1:30 p.m.: "The alarm doesn't seem to be resetting itself," says a police officer. "I'm leaving the scene, back in service." The fire department is on scene.
UPDATE 1:42 p.m.: The alarm has been reset.
A building at 1991 Attica Road, on the site of a quarry, has had its windows smashed and a door busted open. Sheriff's deputies are responding.
Alabama firefighters are responding to a report of a utility pole down in the roadway, with wires arcing, at 6564 Knowlesville Road. The location is between Lewiston and Ham roads.
UPDATE 12:50 p.m.: The response is cancelled, Alabama is standing down. The dispatcher says "This is a previously reported incident. They are confirmed cable wires. No one wants to claim the pole."
A fire is reported at an automotive shop at Route 5 and Linwood Road in Le Roy, which has firefighters on scene.
The fire is concentrated at the back side of the north end of the building, and "a big hole will be opened" to accommodate firefighting efforts.
According to Google Maps, the likely shop is Rider's Garage, located at 8980 Linwood Road near East Main Road (Route 5).
UPDATE 9:45 p.m.: The address is reported as 8171 Route 5, which maps as Carl McQuillen Racing Engines.
UPDATE 9:48 p.m.: Pavilion fire is requested to the scene non-emergency and Stafford is also responding.
UPDATE 9:53 p.m.: National Grid has cut power to the building.
UPDATE 10:12 p.m.: An engine from the Town of Batavia is also responding. A crew is being directed to head up into the attic to check for hot spots.
UPDATE 11:17 p.m.: A second interior crew is going to go into the attic.
Before being handed the maximum sentence possible in county court today, caregiver Heidi L. Schollard was described as ruthless, narcissistic, thoughtless, manipulative, dangerous, relentless, remorseless, predatory, cruel, selfish, without mercy and completely clueless as to the gravity of her crimes.
The 40-year-old Batavia woman and mother of two who bilked two elderly patients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was given up to seven years in prison. In May, she pled guilty to four felonies -- three counts of grand larceny, 3rd, which are Class D felonies, and a single count of grand larceny, 4th, a Class E felony.
On the latter conviction, she got one-and-a-third to four years in prison, and for the other crimes she was given two-and-a-third to seven years. These will be served concurrently under the terms of a plea agreement with the District Attorney's Office.
The caregiver was initially arrested in December 2010 for allegedly stealing about $250,000 from a Batavia resident. She was out of jail during the proceedings in that case and was arrested again in March and accused of defrauding another elderly person. The victim in that case is a resident of the Town of Alabama.
When asked about what some may consider a good deal for the defendant, District Attorney Lawrence Friedman said afterward that "there were no assurances with this case" if it had gone to trial. That's because the simple fact that the victims needed a caretaker could call into question their capacity to testify and communicate about the case.
"It is already a hole in the balloon," said a relative of a victim outside the courtroom.
"If Heidi says she was given gifts of money, how do you prove they weren't?" Friedman said, "It's not a slam-dunk and unless you know all the facts of the case, it's easy to -- like the judge said -- be critical."
Schollard, who lives at 161 Bank St., was also ordered to pay restitution to the first victim of $265,131 and $42,026.57 to the second one. In addition, she has to repay the state Department of Taxation and Finance $23,414 and another $2,485 to the NYS Department of Labor. When you tack on another 5-percent surcharge requirement, the order comes to nearly $350,000.
But no one in the courtroom seemed to believe full monetary restitution will ever be made -- certainly not in the victims' lifetime, nor likely in the defendant's lifetime.
In the meanwhile, the victims are having to liquidate many of their assets. And their families are left to pick up the pieces of all the broken lives, according to their testimonies and in letters filed with the court.
The first speaker this afternoon identified himself as a victim's son and told Judge Noonan:
"We were an average American family -- we spent the holidays at my parent's house, Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays. We had bumps, but we all got along. Then Heidi came into the house and started to change everything. She moved around the furniture. She did things her way. It became Heidi's house. I didn't even like to enter the house. It felt foreign."
Add this to the mix -- Heidi's in a romantic relationship with his nephew and now the lines of communication in the family are strained.
"We're no longer a family, we have no base anymore, it's gone," he said, choking back his tears.
The next speaker said his aunt was a victim and that Schollard first came into the picture in 2006 when she was highly recommended as a caregiver. In time, the employee's actions resulted in his aunt not being able to live out her years in the lovely home she had had all her life.
"She ruthlessly and thoughtlessly manipulated my aunt to further her criminal plans," the man said.
His aunt experienced a "profound loss of trust, deep depression, self recrimination and has lost her will to live and this has impacted her health."
The nephew went on to say that besides stealing huge amounts of money via hundreds of fraudulent checks and ATM transactions, she continuously violated basic personal boundaries.
As an example of Schollard's manipulative behavior, the nephew said she frequently introduced herself to people as the woman's daughter or granddaughter. She even insisted on being allowed to sit in on his aunt's sessions with her psychiatrist. But the doctor refused and deemed Schollard to be "dangerous."
When his aunt was placed in an assisted-living facility, he said Schollard would go there, after being told to have no contact with her, and not sign in at the front desk. She'd leave with his aunt and then bring her back just in time for her meds so she wouldn't be missed. She gave his aunt a cell phone and only Schollard knew the number to it. Ultimately, he says Schollard tried to move his aunt out of the facility. And not long ago, she tried to contact his aunt in violation of a court order, the nephew said.
A CPA, who had been one of the victim's tax advisor for 25 years and is now a financial co-guardian of the estate, said that in his entire 35-year career, he has never encountered such an egregious example of elder abuse. The accountant said that in the week leading up to a family meeting about the forensic examination of the victim's financial records and the dispensation of 249 checks, Schollard misappropriated $50,000 and covered her tracks by cooking up a second set of books.
Throughout the whole ordeal, the tax man said Schollard showed no remorse whatsoever.
After the testimonies, Friedman said the picture that emerged reflects exactly what "someone like her would say and do," and he told Noonan she deserved no consideration of leniency.
"No one wants her to be at liberty to pay back some part of the restitution," Friedman said. "We seek the strongest maximum sentence."
Noonan said over the past several days he spent hours poring over a voluminous case file. Oddly, the last letter he read was written last week by Schollard herself, and it's chock full of attempted manipulation in order to get leniency. Noonan said it had the complete opposite effect on him.
The other letters he read amounted to more than just the rantings of angry victims. It was practically a case study in how someone can methodically victimize the frail and elderly.
He knows because during the last two years he said he's attended seminars about an emerging trend in the courts -- elder abuse -- which will likely continue as more Baby Boomers age.
Then Noonan put this case in context of his time spent on the bench. In the last 16 years, having meted out prison times for more than 100 cases a year on a wide range of crimes, Heidi L. Schollard's case is a rarity.
"This is a case that's different from any I've ever had before," Noonan said, not only for the huge theft -- none has ever totalled up to this much money, but also because it's rare that he sentences nonviolent, first offenders to a lengthy prison term.
"You are so narcissistic, so self-centered, so unaware of how your conduct fits into the world," Noonan told Schollard. "Society needs to be rid of you for as long as possible. ... You just don't get it...You are a thief who apparently has enough charm to make the elderly feel you are their friend but you are not."
Even her attorney said "We won't waste the court's time asking for mercy."
The perp was sullen, dressed in a gray hoodie and matching pants, wearing white sneakers, tortoise shell-rimmed glasses, with her hair pulled back in a stubby ponytail. Gone was her mug shot's pert semblance of a smile and look of wide-eyed wonder. She sat with slumped shoulders, eyes cast downward, and had nothing to say when the judge asked her if she wanted to speak.
After sentencing, a deputy ushered her off to jail.
Outside the courtroom, her brother-in-law stood, seeming somewhat dazed about what had just taken place. He said this has been a long time in coming and he wanted to witness the proceedings firsthand, so later on Heidi can't lie about what was said. He said she is a pathological liar.
"She's been a peach to deal with for 10 or 15 years," he said, noting that she always blames her troubles on others, or the past.
He said she is the second youngest of 12 children who were split up during childhood and put in foster homes "where some bad things happened." But she denies responsiblity for her actions.
Now he and her sister are the guardians of the former caregiver's children and will be for years to come.
For the second time today, a white male wearing a tan, possibly white, shirt and shorts entered the McDonald's restaurant in Batavia and yelled at patrons not to eat their food. Police are responding.
Alleged intruders are inside the former Laughing Buddha tattoo parlor and reportedly trashing the store and/or throwing things around inside, says a caller to the emergency dispatch center. A rep from building owner Mancuso Properties is en route along with city police.
The store is located on Ellicott Street in the City of Batavia.
An officer on scene reports there are two people inside. An officer asks dispatch to contact former store operator Jason Lang.
UPDATE 10:09 p.m. (by Howard): Free-lance journalist Alecia Kaus went to the scene. It appears there was a misunderstanding over a display counter inside the former store. Another business owner claims he still owns the counter and was removing it. The property owner showed up and wouldn't let the person remove the counter. Authorities were unable to contact Lang to help resolve the issue, so the property claim is being held over until tomorrow.
A grass fire is reported in the area of Cookson and Dorman roads. Alexander Fire Department is responding.
UPDATE 8:57 p.m.: The area is said to be near the old Foster residence or Foster Farm. It wasn't much of a blaze. They couldn't find it at first, then indicated the responders on scene would suffice. "Are you going to stomp it out?", a firefighter asks. "Doing it now," is the reply. Mission accomplished. Fire is out. Alexander is back in service.
The Genesee County Emergency Dispatch Center announced that Route 63 will be closed between Hutton and Macomber roads in Oakfield starting at 5 p.m. today.
A state DOT worker said the "road settled" and some emergency repairs are needed. There is no estimate of when the repairs will be completed and the state route reopened.
The detour will be Lewiston Road to Route 77.
UPDATE 8:49 p.m.: The only additional information from the press release issued late this afternoon is that access to local driveways will be permitted and daily traffic reports can be accessed at www.511ny.org
Press release:
Camelot -- one of Lerner and Loewe’s most popular musicals -- is the Batavia Players offering for their 16th Annual Summer Youth Theater.
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday at Elba Central School, 57 S. Main St. in Elba.
Camelot is the timeless story of Arthur, the boy who became king when he removed an enchanted sword from the stone.
The story begins as Arthur learns that he is to be married to Guinevere in order to maintain peace for the idyllic kingdom of Camelot.
Featuring such favorites as "If Ever I Would Leave You" and "The Lusty Month of May," the pageantry and magic includes Merlin, invisible castles and the beginning of the Knights of the Round Table.
Lyrics and book by Allan J. Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe. Directed by Pat Burk.
Camelot -- one of Lerner and Loewe’s most popular musicals -- is the Batavia Players offering for their 16th Annual Summer Youth Theater.
Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 16 through 18 at Elba Central School, 57 S. Main St. in Elba.
It's the timeless story of Arthur, the boy who became king when he removed an enchanted sword from the stone.
The story begins as Arthur learns that he is to be married to Guinevere in order to maintain peace for the idyllic kingdom of Camelot.
Ready, set, go! Join the 5K Run/Fun Walk starting at 6:15 Saturday afternoon to benefit Donald R. Carroll's Toys for Kids program. The 5K is in conjunction with historic Downtown's Summer in the City.
All proceeds help make Christmas wishes come true for disadvantaged children in our community.
Check out the Web site at DonCarrollrace.com to register online. The first 75 entries get a T-shirt.
Preregistration is $20. High school students pay $10 (no shirt giveaway). On race day, registration is $25 and you can register from 3 to 6 p.m. at Bank and Main streets near the Senior Center.
The course is certified to be accurate by USA Track & Field ( #NY06914KL). The Start Line (6:15 p.m. SHARP) is Main and Bank by the Senior Center. The Finish Line is there also.
Trophies will be awarded to the best overall male and female; and first-, second- and third-place trophies by age category. There will be no duplicate winners.
Afterward, there will be a 31st Anniversary Party Extravaganza, free for all participants with race numbers, and guests are welcome for a $5 donation. The party will feature music and dancing, chicken BBQ, turkey dogs, yogurt, freshly sliced fruit, ice cold water, and a beer coupon.
Sponsors of the event are:
At Summer in the City this Saturday, United Memorial Medical Center will have a Health Fair featuring free health screenings, giveaways, raffles, refreshments, information and more.
It will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. under the tent at Cary Hall, located at 211 E. Main St. -- near the car show.
Bring your kids and grandkids!
Jeremy Newman of WBEE 92.5 will have a live remote broadcast from 2 to 4 p.m.
The free health screenings offered are for blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol. Also, men's prostate health checks will be available from 2 to 4 p.m.
Community partners for the event, which will be there with giveaways and information, are:
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