SCHENECTADY Police to pay for illegal firearms Effort aims to remove weapons from street BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Hoping to reduce city gun violence, the Schenectady Police Department is offering to buy back guns or pay a reward for information leading to the arrest of people with illegal guns, officials announced Monday. The effort is part of Operation IMPACT, a state effort to combat violent and gun crime in 17 counties including Schenectady, which account for 80 percent of the crime outside of New York City. Schenectady is receiving $900,000 through the program, now its fifth year, a portion of which is going to the gun buyback and reward program. Under the program, police will offer $100 for every illegal gun turned in whether it is a handgun or sawed-off shotgun. Rifles and other legal weapons are excluded. They also will offer $500 for information that results in the arrest of a person with an illegal gun. Officials talked about the program during a news conference at Jerry Burrell Park. The grant is going to city police, the Schenectady County Sheriff’s Department, the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office and the Schenectady County Probation Department. District Attorney Robert Carney called the buyback and reward program Phase 2. “You can turn in your gun for $100 or run the risk that a friend will turn you in for $500. Nothing is more important than curbing gun violence,” he said. Phase 1 involved an amnesty program, launched in April, that netted seven weapons, all from the same person and all legal. Local law enforcement worked with the clergy to develop and offer the program. “Working together, I think, is the only way to solve this problem,” said the Rev. David Heise of the Albany Street United Methodist Church. A hotline is available to receive tips: 788-6566. A public relations campaign also will be launched. According to state crime statistics, Schenectady saw a 3.1 percent increase in overall crime between January and May, driven primarily by an increase in burglaries and larcenies. Firearm robberies, for example, are up approximately 25 percent for this period. Violent crime — murder, rape aggravated assaults — is down 5.7 percent for this period, however. State officials said crime in the other IMPACT counties is up 5.3 percent. SPLITTING $900,000 The local agencies will use the latest Operation IMPACT money to fund initiatives already in place. City police will use $130,000 of the $457,000 it received to pay overtime to officers performing enhanced patrols. It will use the remainder to pay salary and benefits of staff manning the Office of Field Intelligence. Officials attribute the office for helping reduce major crime activity in the county between 2006 and 2007, when violent crime dropped 15 percent. The sheriff’s office will use the $82,274 it received to pay for an officer as part of the intelligence office. The officer is charged with collecting information from jail inmates, which is entered into an extensive data base. Sheriff Harry Buffardi said jail-based information includes data such as street nicknames and is used in conjunction with other intelligence. “The state comes in with a checkbook, but the state allows local leadership to develop partnerships and to customize its crime strategies to suit community needs,” Buffardi said. Carney said the $260,000 his office is receiving will pay the salaries of two bureau chiefs and overtime for investigations. County probation is using its $102,000 for overtime, to allow probation offi cers to participate with city and state police in joint patrols and investigations. Carney said officials held the press conference at Jerry Burrell Park to show they are taking serious community concerns to make the playground safer. The park has for years been the scene of drugrelated and violent crime, including the 2007 murder of Xavier McDaniel Jr. Carney said cameras at the park, installed as part of Operation IMPACT, helped convicted Omari Lee for McDaniel’s murder. Xavier McDaniel Sr., father of the murder victim, said Monday at the news conference the cameras are important but Lee’s conviction would not have occurred without participation of the community. “We as a community need to stand up and do what we need to do,” he said. BARRY SLOAN/FOR THE DAILY GAZETTE Mayor Brian Stratton, left, looks at a presentation as Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney speaks during a news conference Monday where it was announced that part of a $900,597 grant will be used for a gun buyback effort.
SCHENECTADY Bill lets diabetic officer retire early Cop has called in sick for 3 years BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
A police officer suffering from severe complications from diabetes will be allowed to retire early, thanks to a bill signed by Gov. David Paterson. The bill allows Schenectady police Investigator Michael Kelly to leave the force immediately under the 20-year retirement plan. Without the bill, Kelly would not be able to retire until 2011, when he would have been a department employee for 30 years. City officials wanted Kelly to retire early because he has been unable to work since Aug. 23, 2005, but hasn’t left the department’s payroll. Paterson signed the bill Tuesday. For three years, Kelly has used his unlimited sick time to draw full pay every week. He told the city he would continue to call in sick until 2011 unless he could retire early with full benefits. He could have also left early on disability, but his monthly pension would have been greatly reduced. City officials asked the state Legislature to grant Kelly special permission to retire early so they could fill his investigator position. Kelly’s retirement will bring the force to 166 officers, one more than budgeted. The department hired two additional trainees in anticipation of two retirements, including Kelly’s, police department spokesman Lt. Brian Kilcullen said. “It really was a win-win,” Kilcullen said. “He was able to retire and address his health issues without any distractions, and we’re able to fill a spot.” Kelly was a dedicated officer for 24 years, city officials said. But on Aug. 23, 2005, a toe infection forced him to seek emergency medical help. He wound up at St. Clare’s Hospital for 44 days, fighting for his life. Since then, he has lost two toes and has had serious foot infections. He also has no feeling in either foot, he said. City officials agreed that Kelly could no longer work as a police officer. They also acknowledged that by contract, Kelly has the right to call in sick for as long as he wants since he is genuinely ill. Kelly developed insulin-dependent diabetes about a year after he started working for the police department, he said. The disease is known for forcing sufferers to closely monitor their blood-sugar levels every day, but it also causes serious blood flow problems that often lead to foot amputations. According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes causes blood vessels in the foot and leg to narrow and harden. Poor circulation reduces the foot’s ability to fight infection and heal blisters. After being hospitalized with foot infections in 2005, Kelly returned to work for four days in September 2006. However, his leg braces caused another blister that became infected, he said. At that point, he left the department’s active duty roster for good.
SCHENECTADY Police union taking issue to court Battle expected in discipline case BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett’s aggressive effort to handle discipline of police himself is again in jeopardy. This time, the Schenectady police union is taking the city to court — and the union has legal precedent on its side. An administrative law judge with the Public Employment Relations Board has ruled that Albany cannot use an old charter, which dates back to 1903, to defend its recent decision to give its police chief disciplinary powers. The PERB ruling comes as a major blow to Schenectady because the city has been citing the same charter — the Second Class Cities Law — as its main defense in its decision to give Bennett the authority to discipline its police. Previously, arbitrators made the final decision in all discipline cases. But Bennett says he won’t return to arbitration unless the highest court in the state orders him to give up his authority. Until that happens, he said, he will continue to handle discipline of officers himself. “Our position is that is the correct way to handle the discipline, not only in this police department but all police departments,” Bennett said. For now, no court has told Schenectady to hand discipline back to the arbitrators. The PERB judge’s decision affected only Albany. But Schenectady PBA is taking the same issue to court now, and Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden is gearing up for what he believes will be years of court cases and appeals. Although the court battle is just beginning, Schenectady’s war over police discipline began in 2006 when the state Court of Appeals ruled that New York City’s police commissioner had been wrongly stripped of his disciplinary powers by the Taylor Law. The state’s union-friendly law had forced the city to negotiate on how discipline would be handled, rather than leaving it in the commissioner’s hands. Many municipalities, including Schenectady, also reacted to the Taylor Law by negotiating away their disciplinary authority and giving it to arbitrators. So when the Court of Appeals ruled that police commissioners should keep their authority, cities that had a provision for a commissioner claimed that they too could toss out any contractual agreements about arbitrators deciding discipline. The trouble is that the Court of Appeals ruling implied that civilians had to have been in charge before the Taylor Law. In Schenectady, the commissioner position existed before the act, but it wasn’t filled until 1991, more than two decades after the Taylor Law was passed. Schenectady and other cities claimed that the Court of Appeals case applied to them even if the position hadn’t been filled, because the position existed in the Second Class Cities Law — the original charter for early cities like Albany and Schenectady. Now an administrative law judge has clearly said that argument is invalid. In the ruling, Judge Susan S. Comenzo said the Second Class Cities Law does not specifically give police discipline to local civilians. The law, she said, is too broad — it was designed to provide a framework for most city functions. The Court of Appeals decision only applies to cities that have a more specific law addressing police, she said. VAN NORDEN DEFENSE Despite that decision, Van Norden said he isn’t worried about losing the city’s case. The Second Class Cities Law and the city’s newer, secondary charter clearly address the issue of disciplining police officers while remaining silent on discipline for most other employees. “We think that’s a very important distinction,” Van Norden said. “Police are not just employees, they’re officers. Take the Jeff Curtis case. Automatic forfeiture of office, because he’s an officer.” Curtis, a city detective, automatically lost his job after he pleaded guilty to felony drug charges. He stole cocaine from the police evidence locker and used it. “The distinction is, the employee does not automatically lose their jobs. The officer does,” Van Norden said. “That’s what we’re going to argue, hard, when we get to PERB.” Even if the city wins at the fi rst stage — a PERB administrative law judge — Van Norden expects the PBA to appeal. If the city loses, Van Norden promised to appeal. “This is not going to go away,” he said. “This is a very big issue. It’s unlikely one side or the other will lose at any step and just go away.” Whichever side loses could appeal to four higher judicial levels. The highest is the Court of Appeals, that’s where Van Norden thinks this case will go. Until then, Bennett said, he will keep disciplining the offi cers himself. He said immediate discipline will still be effective, even if a court later overturns all of his decisions. “If it happened, it did in fact have effectiveness,” he said. He also isn’t disturbed by the PERB ruling, saying it’s just a good example of why he’s opposed to arbitration. A PERB judge supported New York City in the case that ended at the Court of Appeals; now a different PERB judge has taken the opposite tack. “Do you see a lack of consistency here?” Bennett said. “Do you think that’s a concern? You should. Now do you see my problem with arbitration?” Schenectady PBA President Robert Hamilton did not return a call seeking comment.
EDITORIALS Paterson saves Sch’dy with arbitration veto
Thank goodness for separation of powers. While it can produce delay and even gridlock at times, it also allows good policy occasionally to triumph over rank politics. As it did this week when Gov. David Paterson vetoed a shameless bill that would have undone a 2006 Court of Appeals decision making it possible for municipalities like Schenectady, with a police commissioner written into their charter, to directly discipline their police officers. This isn’t the first time the bill passed. Immediately after the court decision, lawmakers went to work — or, more precisely, the unions went to work — producing legislation that would vitiate it and make discipline in these places once again a contractual matter. It was only a veto by Gov. Pataki in 2006 that prevented that from happening. The trouble with a return to the old system is it would have meant that, in matters large and small, ultimate decisions about discipline would have been made not by those in charge of the department, but by arbitrators. With those arbitrators in the past almost routinely ruling against the city and softening justifi ed punishments, officers in Schenectady have come to believe that they can get away with anything short of an outright crime — and, as the incarceration rate for Schenectady police in recent years has shown, some have apparently thought they could get away with that, too. This is a matter of critical importance to Schenectady, determining whether it will run its police department or continue to be run by it. Yet, even after the new commissioner, Wayne Bennett, assumed disciplinary authority in 2007 and the city implored its representatives in the Legislature to vote against the bill, they all chose to side with the unions. It was only a veto by Gov. Spitzer last year that saved Schenectady from arbitration — and its lawmakers from their own irresponsibility. This year it was Paterson (although local Assemblymen Tedisco and Amedore did oppose the union bill at the last minute). While the vetoes are certainly welcome by the city and those eager to see the police department straightened out, it seems they could be easily overridden, judging by the overwhelming majorities with which they passed in the Senate and Assembly. That lawmakers haven’t even tried makes one suspect that they like having it both ways: catering to the unions without having to take the blame for the negative consequences of their actions. Schenectady still isn’t out of the woods. The union will now apparently take the fight to the Public Employment Relations Board, which ruled in favor of the Albany PBA in a similar case earlier this year. It’s likely that the issue will eventually be decided again by the Court of Appeals. We won’t bet on the city, but we will surely root for it.
Everyone can agree that we need more police in Schenectady to improve the quality of life for the working, taxpaying residents. My proposal would be to have a $100 annual safety fee per taxable property. With roughly 19,000 taxpaying properties in Schenectady, the city would generate nearly $2 million — enough to put another dozen or so cops on the street with benefits. As a taxpayer in Schenectady, I would be first in line with my checkbook. WILLIAM MARINCIC Schenectady
VIEWPOINT Officers’ suspension drags on too long BY AUDREY OSTERLITZ For The Sunday Gazette
Recently, I awoke from a nightmare. We were locked in a room with the five suspended police officers, their families, the accuser and Schenectady Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett. A hearing was taking place. Bennett said “We are going to get to the truth,” and then allowed the accuser to speak at length. When it became the officers’ turn, he cut them off repeatedly, allowing only statements that would lend credibility to the accuser’s allegations. The nightmare is more real than I could ever imagine. My son-in-law has been suspended since a few days after Christmas 2007. While the state attorney general’s office drags its feet through the investigation, he waits to get the job back that he loves. MISTAKEN BELIEFS It is apparent from public and editorial opinion that people think he is on an all-expensespaid vacation. Friends recently asked me how he was coping with losing his job, thinking, wrongly, that he has been fired. Sitting home doing nothing may be desirable for those who write critical letters, but this is not a vacation for my son-in-law. He is not permitted to even enter the police station. He must report any outside work. Frustrated by the length of the investigation and anxious for something to do, he signed up for a real estate class and achieved his license. Even this activity had to be reported and approved. He is doing whatever he can to keep busy until someone finally gets to the truth. He remains the object of suspicion. He has already been found guilty by many readers of the newspaper when all he was doing was his job. When the story first broke, The Gazette editorial of December 29 said “a jury should not be concerned with this defendant’s prior record — that he has a long criminal history . . .” Yet the entire piece then proceeded to dredge up old news of past police misdeeds. Why is it not OK to bring up the accuser’s history, but perfectly acceptable to refer to that of the Schenectady police? A little balance is in order; and, perhaps some guts, too, on the part of police leadership. The person making the complaint has a long history of breaking the law and everything to gain by lashing out at those with the authority to apprehend him. Why would Bennett cave in to such accusations and take the drastic action of suspending fi ve officers? My son-in-law, while on the force for only a few months, apprehended a suspect who was pointing a gun at him. He was then recognized by the city for his restraint when he had every right, as an officer of the law, to point back and shoot, his life being in danger. While he now tries to sell houses, the public in the city of Schenectady has lost the benefit of a superbly qualified officer who is being paid to stay home and wonder what will happen to his career. Police officers face unknown dangers every day. The men and women of law enforcement go to work not knowing whether they will return home at night. Their routine “9 to 5” can be midnight to 8 a.m. and includes angry, volatile individuals, dangerous domestic disputes, out-of-control drunks and people with guns. Their benefit package, widely criticized, cannot compensate for a life lost in the line of duty. Think about having to apprehend a suspect who is pointing a gun at you or working Christmas day at the scene of a fire with several dead bodies inside. POUNDING ON THE TABLE While public respect for the uniform has sagged, Commissioner Bennett has allowed these accusations to dictate his policy, which could be interpreted as soft on crime and hard on those who enforce the law. Now, the accuser has again been arrested, having allegedly raped a woman. Perhaps if the police had been allowed to do their jobs back in December, this woman would not have been (again, I say allegedly) assaulted. People will be screaming for the police to protect us from the likes of him. You have heard lawyers say when you don’t have the law, pound the facts. When you don’t have the facts, pound the law. When you don’t have either, pound on the table. The accuser of the Schenectady police, in a lot of trouble, pounded on the table. By filing his notice of claim, he deflected attention from his own legal troubles to a police department that has traditionally been an easy target. Letters to the editor have assisted him in that effort. Why not shoot fi sh in a barrel? I wonder what further accusations he will drum up this time. We should wait until the investigation is over before we pass judgment on the police, and direct our attention to the attorney general’s office, asking them why the process is taking so long. I sincerely hope the leadership in Schenectady will acquire some backbone, and that the nightmare for the accused police offi cers will soon be over.
Police say Schenectady woman slashed by panhandler Thursday, July 31, 2008 By Steven Cook (Contact) Gazette Reporter
SCHENECTADY — A city woman was taken to Albany Medical Center on Wednesday night after being slashed by a panhandler, city police said.
Jennifer Weglowski, 33, of Oakwood Avenue, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, after police said she slashed the woman in the neck near the Cumberland Farms on Crane Street. Police spokesman Lt. Brian Kilcullen saidsaid Weglowski asked the woman for money then attacked her when she refused.
The victim, who was drunk, was taken for treatment and stitches, police spokesman Lt. Brian Kilcullen said. The injury was not life threatening, and the victim remained alert throughout, Kilcullen said, even talking on her cellphone as she was being treated.
Weglowski was arrested a short time later near her home and was taken to Ellis Hospital's McClellan campus for treatment of injuries she suffered while scuffling with police, Kilcullen said.
SCHENECTADY Cocaine use, sales alleged Papers cite actions by ex-chief’s wife BY STEVEN COOK Gazette Reporter
Lisa Kaczmarek not only possessed cocaine, but used it and sold it in furtherance of a large-scale cocaine distribution conspiracy in which she is charged, prosecutors allege in newly filed papers. The explicit allegations come in a new motion filed in her second-degree conspiracy case by the state Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting her. The motion papers also allege she knew full well that Kerry Kirkem was a large-scale narcotics distributor, using him as her source for obtaining cocaine that she later sold. Kaczmarek talked with Kirkem on nine separate occasions between Feb. 16 and Feb. 25, asking about cocaine shipments and inquiring about a large shipment believed taken by authorities, according to prosecutors. The telephone conversations were secretly recorded by police. Previously, only two alleged conversations between Kirkem and Kaczmarek, who is the wife of former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek, had been known publicly. In one such conversation on Feb. 20, in response to the drug seizure, Kirkem suggested a meeting between Lisa Kaczmarek and her husband. It was Lisa Kaczmarek who suggested the location — an Albany-area strip club that night. “The people submit,” the prosecutor’s brief reads, “ … that Lisa Kaczmarek knew Kerry Kirkem was a large-scale narcotics distributor, that she knew she was part of a larger narcotics conspiracy, and that she possessed cocaine with the intent to sell it, and sold cocaine, in furtherance of this narcotics conspiracy.” The motion comes in response to one filed in early July by Kaczmarek attorney Kevin Luibrand asking for dismissal of the case, a standard request. Luibrand argued that the charge was based solely on a conversation, and included no overt act required for the conspiracy charge against her. Prosecutors, citing case law, argued it was “well-settled” that such conversations constitute overt acts. Contacted Thursday, Luibrand declined to respond to the new allegations. “Only in court,” he said. The motion papers offer a glimpse at the prosecution’s case against Lisa Kaczmarek, whose husband has not been charged. Prosecutors “anticipate several ‘cooperating co-defendants’ can and will testify regarding the defendant’s possession and sale of narcotics in furtherance of the charged conspiracy.” Prosecutors dismissed one of Luibrand’s arguments, that Kaczmarek was being treated differently because her bail was more than that requested for another defendant, Leah Armenia. Financial resources are one of the considerations with bail. Kaczmarek’s resources are greater than the comparable defendant, a single woman working at Hannaford, the prosecutors said. Lisa Kaczmarek remains free on $10,000 bail. A decision on the motions is expected this month. Lisa Kaczmarek was one of 24 people indicted in May after an investigation headed by the state police. Of those arrested, a total of 17 defendants have already taken deals and pleaded guilty. Those remaining with cases pending include Lisa Kaczmarek’s son, Miles Smith, and two people who have yet to be arrested, Wilfredo Cordero and alleged Long Island supplier Maximo Doe. Kaczmarek faces up to 8 1 /3 to 25 years in state prison, if convicted. Those taking deals, however, have generally been receiving five years or far less. Among those taking deals were the two drug ring operators, including Kirkem, the man with whom Lisa Kaczmarek allegedly spoke with so many times. In the latest papers, prosecutors describe nine secretly recorded conversations between Kirkem and Lisa Kaczmarek in the Feb. 16-25 span. Early conversations touch on the quality of cocaine allegedly sold to Lisa Kaczmarek by Kirkem. On Feb. 16, she indicated she wanted to try the new cocaine before she bought it. The next day, Kirkem indicated he was getting some high-quality cocaine, which would help Kaczmarek get her customers back, “those customers having left due to prior poor quality cocaine supplied to Kaczmarek,” prosecutors wrote. It is alleged there were the two previously known conversations Feb. 18, where Lisa Kaczmarek allegedly told Kirkem he ruined her business and that her husband, Greg, the former police chief, had offered to mule drugs for Kirkem. Twice on Feb. 19, once at 4:28 p.m. and again at 8:26 p.m., the two talked. Both times Lisa Kaczmarek inquired whether the shipment had arrived yet, prosecutors said. Kirkem replied it would not arrive until the next morning. The shipment never arrived. Instead, in an elaborate sting, police followed drug mule Misty Gallo from Schenectady to Long Island and back. In a staged traffic stop, police surreptitiously seized as much as $150,000 in heroin and cocaine and sent Gallo on her way. A panicked Gallo called Kirkem after discovering the drugs missing. At about 9:40 p.m. Feb. 20, Lisa Kaczmarek called Kirkem and learned of the apparent seizure. She asked what he thought happened. Kirkem responded that he needed to meet with her and Greg to discuss it. It was Lisa Kaczmarek, according to the motion, that suggested the meeting location — Albany-area strip club DiCarlo’s. She and her husband would be going there that night and Kirkem should meet them there to discuss the situation. Papers do not disclose what was said at the alleged meeting. The indictment in the case, however, has indicated the alleged meeting took place and they discussed how to proceed in light of the seizure. The phone was quiet for three days until Feb. 23 when, according to prosecutors, Lisa Kaczmarek called Kirkem to ask if “anything is going on,” allegedly inquiring if Kirkem had cocaine, according to the motion. Kirkem didn’t, but said maybe he would that night. The last phone call cited was Feb. 25, with Lisa Kaczmarek calling Kirkem to see if he was “laying low on what they wanted.” Kirkem responded he was “laying low” on everything. Lisa then asked if she could get something from “the houses,” identified by authorities as Kirkem’s various sales locations. Kirkem’s response was “no.”
SCHENECTADY Group wants city to hire Chaires as next police chief Public safety chief says lobbying won’t play role in choice BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
A neighborhood group is lobbying to have a say in who is appointed as the city’s next police chief. ACORN, a group that has been making waves in Schenectady for the past six months, sent a letter to the Schenectady City Council this week urging it to promote Assistant Chief Mark Chaires. The group said it is staunchly behind Chaires over the other four candidates being considered. “ACORN believes that Assistant Chief Mark Chaires is not only a qualified candidate but also the leader that the police department and the community need,” co-chair Christopher Dixon wrote. It’s unusual for a neighborhood group to thrust itself into the politics surrounding appointments to critical jobs. Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett said he’s never seen it happen before. But he said this effort won’t go far. ACORN’s lobbying will have absolutely no effect on his police chief recommendation. “This is not a popularity poll,” he said. “Opinion really doesn’t have a place in the process.” ACORN isn’t going to drop it. Member Chris Franklin said Chaires is head and shoulders above the other candidates and should be the city’s next chief. “He’s been through it, thick and thin. There was a scandal there a few years ago and he was on the outside,” Franklin said, referring to the FBI investigation that ended in 2002 with four officers sent to prison. “He’s lived in Schenectady for a long time and knows the people there,” Franklin added. “He’s risen through the ranks through the years.” Dixon added that Chaires is the only acceptable candidate. “I don’t think that they should hire anyone from outside Schenectady, first of all,” he said. He acknowledged that Chaires has relatives in ACORN but said they were not involved in the decision to lobby on Chaires’ behalf. “It was my idea,” Dixon said. Franklin said the topic came up because ACORN members are concerned with the length of time it’s taking for the city to fi nd a new chief. The last chief, Michael N. Geraci Sr., left in October to take a job with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. By the time a new chief is hired, Geraci will have been gone nearly a year. “The lack of a chief, that’s an issue,” Franklin said. “The commissioner’s doing a good job but we need someone to take a tighter hold of the reins.” Dixon said the city will get better police service once the police have a new leader. “Leadership is essential to all organizations. The Schenectady Police Department is no different,” he wrote in his letter to the council. “Schenectady has had a vacant position for the chief of police for far too long.” Bennett and Mayor Brian U. Stratton now plan to conduct candidate interviews in early August. Bennett previously predicted that interviews would be completed in July. The timeline was extended when one candidate dropped out, which allowed another candidate to submit his resume in hopes of being hired. Once the interviews are complete, Bennett will make a recommendation to the mayor, who will make the final decision. Chaires’ candidacy won’t be hurt by ACORN’s lobbying, Bennett said. But it won’t help either, he added. “Anybody is entitled to their opinion, but this is an executive decision,” he said. “Opinions are fine but that’s really not the basis — we want to see professional qualifications.” The chief position is advertised at a salary of $115,000, an increase from the $109,000 that Geraci was to make this year. Both Chaires and Assistant Chief Michael Seber are being considered for the job, as are retired Albany police commander Steven Stella, Troy Assistant Chief John Tedesco and Poughkeepsie police Capt. Steven Minard.
SCHENECTADY — Bullets shattered the glass door of the Hamilton Hill Meat Market & Beverage Friday night, but no one inside was injured, police said. A frantic clerk called to report the shooting, saying a man fired a sawed-off shotgun and then ran behind the store at 789 Albany St. Police arrived minutes later and found bullet casings that they said probably came from a semi-automatic rifl e. The incident occurred around 9:33 p.m., Police Department spokesman Lt. Brian Kilcullen said. Officers set up a perimeter around the store and by 10 p.m. were searching the next-door house, 783 Albany St. They believed the suspect might have taken refuge on the second floor of that house, but they did not find him inside, Kilcullen said.
Motion details drug calls Cellphone conversations between former police chief's wife and dealer highlighted in attorney general's filing
By ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writer First published: Saturday, August 2, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- On Feb. 20, former police chief Gregory Kaczmarek, his wife Lisa and a drug dealer named "Slim" allegedly arranged to meet at DiCarlo's strip club in Colonie to discuss the disappearance of $150,000 in missing narcotics.
What they didn't realize was investigators were secretly recording the plans, along with six other cellphone conversations between Lisa Kaczmarek and drug peddler Kerry "Slim" Kirkem, according to court papers.
Five months later, Lisa Kaczmarek faces up to 8 /3 to 25 years in prison for her alleged role in a Long Island-to-Schenectady drug ring taken down in May. Nearly two dozen defendants were charged, including Kirkem, who later pleaded guilty to drug dealing and faces 12 years in prison.
His cellphone conversations with Lisa Kaczmarek were highlighted in a motion filed by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office in Schenectady County Court. It's a response to an earlier filing from Lisa Kaczmarek's attorney that called the drug conspiracy charge she faces baseless.
The latest motion paints Lisa Kaczmarek as a woman anxious to learn when her next cocaine deliveries would arrive, depicting her as irked at the poor quality of recent shipments.
Kaczmarek "knew she was part of a large narcotics conspiracy," stated the court papers. It stated she was "reselling a portion of the cocaine she was obtaining from Kirkem."
The motion cites Kirkem's cellphone conversations with Lisa Kaczmarek between Feb. 16 and Feb. 25, alleging that:
On Feb. 16, Lisa Kaczmarek asked Kirkem if he had the same cocaine he had previously. He replies he has higher quality coke that can "boost Kaczmarek's business." She says she'd like to try it first.
On Feb. 17, Kirkem tells her he's getting high-quality cocaine to help her get customers back -- ones who "left due to prior poor quality cocaine supplied to Kaczmarek by Kirkem." The next day, Feb. 18, Kaczmarek tells Kirkem he "ruined her business" with the poor-quality coke; he says he'll be getting higher quality cocaine "in the near future."
That same day, Kaczmarek tells Kirkem her husband would not only act as a drug transporter, but "flash his badge" should the need arise. She tells Kirkem she couldn't give away his recent cocaine, though admitted she was able to trick some customers into buying the low-quality drug. Kirkem tells Kaczmarek he's getting better quality cocaine.
On Feb. 19, just before 4:30 p.m., Lisa Kaczmarek asks Kirkem when she'll be able to get the "hard," a reference to drugs. He tells her it'll be whenever "she" -- meaning drug transporter Misty Gallo -- gets back. Just before 8:30 p.m., Lisa Kaczmarek calls Kirkem and asks if the new drugs have arrived yet. He says it won't be until the next morning.
On Feb. 20, about 9:40 p.m., Lisa Kaczmarek calls Kirkem and learns he's lost $150,000 in narcotics from Gallo. After Lisa Kaczmarek asked what he thinks happened, Kirkem "advised Kaczmarek that he needed to meet with her and husband Greg to discuss it." They agree to meet at DiCarlo's after Lisa Kaczmarek says she and her husband were going there that night. Lisa Kaczmarek's attorney, Kevin Luibrand, could not be reached Friday. He argues no evidence shows she's had or sold drugs. In court papers, he called the prosecution's case "conversations and not acts." Kaczmarek is free on $10,000 bail. She is expected back in court on Aug. 13, when County Judge Karen Drago is expected to rule on the motions.
Robert Gavin can be reached at 434-2403 or by e-mail at rgavin@ timesunion.com
There appears to be so much focus on Lisa Kaczmarek. What about her husband? The ex-police chief? Will she be the sacrificial lamb and her husband will get a pass?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Drugs gone? Let’s meet at strip joint
Here is a sordid detail to add to many others concerning the drug culture in which Schenectady’s former police chief, Greg Kaczmarek and his wife, Lisa, may have participated: On Feb. 20 of this year a shipment of cocaine was surreptitiously taken out of a car that was part of a Schenectady drug ring, thus precipitating a crisis, and in a phone call to the head of the ring, Lisa said, according to the attorney general’s offi ce that “she and her husband Greg would be going to the Gentleman’s Club ‘DiCarlo’s’ that night, and that Kirkem [the ringleader] should meet them at the club to discuss it.” Can you imagine that? The retired police chief and his wife were on their way to a strip joint, and the head of a drug ring in the city was invited to meet them there to discuss the little problem of a missing cocaine shipment. That was a mere by-the-way in a motion filed the other day in Schenectady County Court, but how revealing. Unfortunately, the attorney general’s office did not quote Lisa’s exact words but only paraphrased them, and there is no indication of whether the meeting actually occurred, but even so. How fascinating! Combining an evening of pleasure, I guess, with a business matter. It was a weird trick the State Police played, which I would never have thought of myself. One of the drug ring, Misty Gallo by name, who has since pleaded guilty and been sentenced to five years, was running a quantity of cocaine up from Long Island to Schenectady, and the police stopped her on the Thruway on the pretext of a traffi c violation. When she wasn’t looking, they swiped the cocaine just to see what would happen and specifically to hear what conversations would ensue on the cellphones they were tapping, including Kerry Kirkem’s. That was one thing that ensued the invitation to Kirkem to meet Lisa and Greg at DiCarlo’s Gentlemen’s Club on Central Avenue. Students of Schenectady history will remember that’s the same strip joint that was visited by city cops as part of a bachelor party in 1997 as a prelude to throwing eggs at passing cars. Maybe someday it will have a historic marker in front of it: “Here reveled Schenectady police offi cers in celebration of the marriage of Ptl Peter Frisoni, 1997. Here convened former Police Chief Greg Kaczmarek and his wife with a drug lord, 2008.” I hasten to add that while Lisa Kaczmarek has been indicted on various felony charges, she has not yet been convicted, and Greg has been neither charged nor indicted. More than half of the other 23 people charged in the ring, including Kirkem, have pleaded guilty and been sentenced to terms of up to 12 years. WORD WATCH As for the fanciful “Gentlemen’s Club” formulation by DiCarlo’s repeated by the attorney general’s office, in reference to a common strip joint, newspapers often use it also, and if I had my way, they’d be fined for it. Also we have the state’s lawyers in their motion papers saying that one of Lisa Kaczmarek’s legal arguments “does not inure to her benefit,” raising the possibility that the attorney general’s office does not own a dictionary. “Inure” means to “take effect” when used intransitively, though its more common, transitive, sense is to be accustomed or habituated as in, “I’ve read so many malapropisms in legal papers that I’m inured to them.” What they probably meant is the legal argument does not redound to her benefit, which is rather different. Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
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