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In the hubbub of yesterday's storm, I never got around to posting links of the audio recorded by WBTA of the court proceedings Tuesday when Michael J. Wells received a 12.5 year sentence for his part in the mid-June M&T bank robbery in Elba.

WBTA received permission from Judge Robert Noonan to record the victim's statements, but the full audio was not available until late yesterday morning.

Interestingly, I just received a phone call from an M&T press relations representative expressing concern that the media had reported the victims' statements, "making them relive" the events, and released their names.  That's ironic because Theresa Claybourn used her statement to specifically criticize her former employer for the company's indifference to what she did that day and what she's been through as a result of that very traumatic event.

I've spoke with Theresa yesterday and know she WANTS people to hear what she had to say.   Both Claybourn and Patty Hackett specifically OK'd the recordings. If either one of them had objected, it's likely that Judge Noonan would not have authorized the recording.

Here are the links to the mp3 files.

Theresa Claybourn

Patty Hackett

I drove around Batavia a bit this morning -- lots of people shoveling and snow blowing this morning.

And, of course, the roundabout is plowed.

City Fire has been dispatched to 228 Summit St., Batavia -- UMMC -- for a fire alarm.

There is a report of smoke in Suite 5.

The thumb print of lake effect snow coming off of Lake Erie has settled over Wyoming County this morning, but the radar over Genesee County is clear.

The National Weather Service forecasts a partly sunny, but windy morning, with a 40 percent chance of some snow in the southern parts of the county.

Winds will whip at 20 to 30 mph with gusts of 40 mph. Temperatures will hit the low 20s.

The current temperature in Batavia is 16 degrees with a wind chill factor of minus 1 degree.

There is a 70 to 80 percent chance of snow in Batavia early this afternoon, dropping off to 40 to 50 percent later in the afternoon and into the evening. The wind will die down only slighly.

 From the National Weather Service:

 

..LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING HAS EXPIRED...

THE LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

LAKE SNOWS HAVE MOVED SOUTH. JUST SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED FROM NOW ON.

Kari L. Riggi Joshua A. Miller Christopher J. Elmore

The five Le Roy residents arrested this morning in connection with a suspected meth lab at 28 Clay St. have been charged and ordered held in Genesee County Jail on $75,000 bail each.

All five where charged criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree.

Sheriff Gary Maha announced this evening that 500 grams of methamphetamine were found at the residence.

Nathan D. Bernard Koree R. Stephenson

Previously:

• Unnamed tipster leads investigators to suspected meth lab in Le Roy
• Five arrested in Le Roy in connection with possible meth lab

Traffic is reportedly at a standstill on Route 63 near Johnny's bar.

Dispatch reports numerous calls, but the dispatcher says, "we're trying to figure out what's going on out there."

Law enforcement is in route.

UPDATE: The situation on Route 63 sounds like a mess. There is a jack-knifed truck holding up traffic, and (unrelated) one truck driver is filing a complaint against another truck driver for assault.

UPDATE 8:10 p.m.: Westbound Route 20 is being closed so that a DOT plow can be extracted from a ditch.

UPDATE 8:15 p.m.: Looking at the radar map, the storm is well south of Batavia. The heaviest concentration of snow is falling from Attica up to Bethany. Darien and Alexander are on the border of the storm.

UPDATE 8:44 p.m.: A driver stuck on Richmond Avenue called for a tow. He was told: Four-hour wait.

UPDATE 9:47 p.m.: It sounds like the car mentioned in the update above has been freed from its snow  bank. Also, it sounds like a truck in Pavilion is blocking traffic now.

UPDATE 9:57 p.m.: Route 63 is open again. Also, a law enforcement officer in Texas Town is reporting one of his suspects is eight-months pregnant and is feeling pressure and discomfort. We don't know why she was arrested. She's being taken to UMMC.

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Emergency crews responded to a report of a rollover accident on the Thruway and when they got there, there was nobody in the car and nobody around, but the car was on its roof.

Meanwhile, a semi-truck on Route 33 is reportedly "driving people" off the road. He happens to be heading toward a roadblock set up earlier this evening because of a jack-knifed truck near Seven Springs Road.

Also, inmate trustees are clearing Porter Road so law enforcement has access to the jail.

There continue to be reports of accidents, cars and trucks stuck in various locations.

UPDATE 6:08 p.m.: Route 33 is open.

UPDATE 6:13: Route 19 is open.

The lake-effect snowstorm hitting Genesee County isn't expected to abate for a few more hours, according to the National Weather Service.

A band of heavy lake-effect snow will continue from the towns south of Buffalo and -east across central and southern Genesee County. Expect this band to remain nearly stationary through early evening before settling farther south into the more distant south-towns later this evening, finally moving out of the area by late evening.

The storm is expected to continue dropping one- to two-inches an hour. Strong winds will create near blizzard conditions.

Meanwhile, there are still lots of drivers out on the roadways and reports continue to pour into the Dispatch Center of cars stuck in ditches.

A travel advisory issued by Sheriff Gary Maha remains in effect, recommending only necessary travel due to weather conditions.

Downtown, it's pretty much white-out conditions now.

A young man walks down Center Street wearing shorts.

Adam Miller, like most downtown businesses, is open.

Feeling pretty confident about the ability of my four-wheel drive truck with new all-weather tires, when I left Le Roy this afternoon, I decided to take Route 19 to the Byron-Bergen area and then head back to Batavia.

Route 33 proved to be an adventure. I passed at least four vehicles off the road.  At times visibility was no more than 5 or 10 feet and I had to crawl along at about 5 mph.  

I was surprised at how many people driving just regular passenger vehicles were out on the road after all of the warnings about treacherous conditions.

The visitor information booth in the parking lot of the Holland Land Office Museum was broken into last night, according to Kelly Rapone, tourism marketing director for the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce.

Somebody broke a lock to gain entry and then made himself at home.

Nothing was stolen -- there's nothing inside to steal, unless you think you can resell travel brochures.

"We were grateful that it had not been vandalized as we had just refinished the inside this summer," Rapone said.

The lock has been replaced.

Rapone supplied the photo.

"We're not sure what he did with all the Windex!" she said. "That was half full when we locked it up in October."

You can view current conditions on the Thruway from three webcams positioned along the route in the county here.

Sheriff Gary Maha has issued a travel advisory for Genesee County.

"No unnecessary travel is advised," Maha said in a statement.

He noted that all roads in Genesee County suffer from poor visibility and slippery conditions due to blowing and drifting snow.

There are several working accidents in the county.

Maha noted this is an advisory and not a ban.

 

About two months ago, local law enforcement received a tip from an unnamed informant that methamphetamine was being manufactured and sold out of a home in Le Roy.

This morning at 6:15 the officers from Le Roy, Genesee County, State Police and the DEA raided a home at 28 Clay St. and arrested five people.

"It took some time to develop probable cause for a search warrant," Sheriff Gary Maha said at a press conference this morning.

The five people arrested at the house have not been formerly charged yet. They will be arraigned later today in Le Roy Town Court.

Taken into custody were:

• Kari L. Riggi, 21, of 28 Clay St.
• Koree R. Stephenson, 22, 14 St. Marks St., Le Roy
• Christopher J. Elmore, 31, 14 St. Marks St.
• Nathan D. Bernard, 21, 28 Clay St.
• Joshua A. Miller, 20, 51 Myrtle St.

Maha described the lab found in the house as a working meth lab and that it was larger than the one allegedly found in Alabama last month.

"That was a little bit of a surprise to us," Maha said. "We didn’t expect it to be as large, so that’s why it will take a little bit more time for clean up."

Agents will be on scene all day, he said, and a clean-up crew that specializes in this sort of hazardous material clean up for law enforcement will arrive from Pennsylvania this afternoon.

The alleged lab was located in the attic and, according to Maha, there was also a quantity of finished product in the house.

Le Roy Chief Chris Hayward said his department believes some of the meth was being distributed in Le Roy, but some of it may have been going into other communities as well. He said where it was being distributed is unclear at this time.

Hayward said this is the first known meth lab found in the Village.

"Over the last 18 or 24 months I've been on public record as saying we have a growing problem in this community and we've been taking steps to address it," Hayward said. "If nothing else, this demonstrates to the community that there is a problem here that we need to address."

Hayward said he believes three of the five individuals grew up in Le Roy and another has lived in the Village for a decade or so. Police have also responded to 28 Clay on calls unrelated to the suspected meth labe, Hayward said.

The Drug Enforcement Agency also participated in the investigation, but has not yet decided whether to file federal charges against the suspects. In the Alabama/Batavia case, the three individuals arrested were immediately arraigned on federal charges, which carry stiffer penalties. Maha said then that the DEA was brought in to send a clear message that meth manufacturing won't be tolerated in Genesee County.

Five people were taken into custody this morning in connection with a suspected meth lab at 28 Clay St., Le Roy, the Sheriff's Office announced this morning.

At 6:15 a.m., the Sheriff's Office, Le Roy Police Department and State Police executed a search warrant at the Clay Street address.

No further details have been released at this time. Sheriff Gary Maha and Chief Chris Hayward are holding a joint press conference at 11 a.m.

The sun is out in Oakfield, at least for now.

More pictures after the jump: