Man accused of home invasion over unpaid bill for strippers Friday, January 25, 2008 By R. J. Kelly (Contact) Gazette Reporter
COBLESKILL — A Glenville man is in the Schoharie County jail after Cobleskill police arrested him in Schenectady for allegedly binding a village man with tape and threatening him for paying for exotic dancers with a bad check. Vincent L. McGrath Jr., 37, was arrested by Cobleskill police Thursday at 885 Strong St. in Schenectady on felony robbery and burglary charges, as well as misdemeanor charges of unlawful imprisonment, criminal possession of a weapon and petty larceny. McGrath was jailed on $25,000 bail after being arraigned before Village Justice Richard Hamm. According to Cobleskill police Sgt. Richard Bialkowski, McGrath was one of two men who invaded the North Grand Street home of a Cobleskill man last Friday, cut his telephone line, bound him with duct tape, struck him and threatened him with an electric stun gun. Police say the incident was in response to the victim, whom they would not identify, paying for $2,000 worth of dances provided by an escort service with a check that bounced. Additional arrests are expected, police said.
FONDA Man first to be prosecuted locally under new sex law Defendant admitted using stolen credit card to hire strippers BY EDWARD MUNGER JR. Gazette Reporter
A Schenectady County man who admitted to hanging a cat and using a stolen credit card to hire strippers is the first defendant in Montgomery County to be prosecuted under a new law that stiffens penalties for sexually motivated crimes. Greg L. Soucia, 22, of 122 Elm St., Delanson, appeared in Montgomery County Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and aggravated cruelty to animals, District Attorney James “Jed” Conboy said. Soucia was arrested in August after a visitor to a Sprakers farm on Crosby Road discovered a dead black cat hanging from a roof rafter by a piece of string, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department investigation report. The investigation revealed Soucia was hired to watch the farm while the owner was away. Calls placed to the farmer’s home Wednesday were not returned. Upon return from his trip, the farmer discovered two other cats were missing, as were two credit cards that had been inside the house, according to the report. The farmer told investigators Soucia also neglected the work he was asked to perform at the farm, including feeding the animals, according to the investigation report. The farmer instructed Soucia not to enter the house, but only to open the “mud room” door to let the dogs out, according to the report. Soucia told an investigating deputy that he took a Visa credit card from inside the house and while at the residence, he used the credit card to hire two strippers from Sheer Pleasure in Schenectady. The investigation report states that the two strippers “performed in front of him for about an hour,” and charged him $600 for the service. Since there was a sexual motivation for the crime, Conboy said, Soucia was prosecuted under the “Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act,” which became state law in April. The law provides for continued management of sex offenders after the expiration of their criminal sentences to include longer periods of parole. It also mandates treatment for all sex offenders and eliminates parole for some sex offenders altogether, according to the Web site of the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. The law also added “sexually motivated felony” to the state’s Penal Code, which led to additional penalties in Soucia’s case, Conboy said. “If you commit a burglary and your goal is because of your own sexual gratification, it’s a sexually motivated felony,” Conboy said. The law heightens sentencing guidelines for crimes, including burglary, kidnapping, arson, promoting prostitution and others, according to the state’s Penal Law. Under the new law, Soucia at sentencing will be ordered to register as a sex offender and his sentence will also exceed the time typically imposed in a third-degree burglary case, Conboy said.
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