2 are sentenced to the county jail, including woman who allegedly stole $92K
ALBION – Two people were sentenced to the Orleans County Jail today, including a Medina woman who allegedly stole $91,973 from the Medina Transportation Company.
Crystal Woodward, 32, pleaded guilty on Oct. 25 to third-degree grand larceny and agreed to pay $91,973 in restitution at $400 a month.
She apologized for the crime today, and said an opioid addiction fueled the larceny. She said she has been drug-free the past 10 months.
“I know what I did was wrong and I deserve punishment,” she told County Court Judge Sanford Church. “The opioid epidemic has hit my family hard. I’m sorry to those I hurt. The drugs took over my life and ruined everything I worked so hard to build.”
David Stalker, owner of Medina Transportation Company, spoke during the sentencing and said he owes thousands to the IRS and is working 80 to 100 hours a week to keep his business going. He said Woodward betrayed the trust of the Stalker family. His wife was close friends with her. Woodward used to call Mrs. Stalker, “Mom.”
The $400 in monthly restitution doesn’t come close to helping the business recoup the stolen funds, Stalker said. It would take nearly 20 years for Woodward to pay the restitution at $400 a month.
Judge Church sentenced Woodward to 4 months of weekends in the county jail. That way she can continue working full-time at an Elba farm and pay towards the restitution. She will also be on probation for five years.
The judge also issued orders of protection for the next eight years for Mr. and Mrs. Stalker.
“I wish I could do a re-do but I can’t,” Woodward said at sentencing. “I’m not that person anymore. I will never be that monster again.”
In another case this morning, Judge Church sentenced a Holley man to a year in the county jail. Jordan Herring pleaded guilty on Oct. 25 to attempting to making a terrorist threat.
While he was in the county jail due a parole violation on May 31, he was speaking on the phone and told the person he was speaking with that he intended to “shoot, cut and choke” police and parole officers, Cardone said.
Herring said he was upset because he was in the jail and not receiving needed medical attention.
Herring said he has struggled with mental health issues since he was 8. He doesn’t like his anti-depressant medication because he said it makes him tired, depressed and leaves him without an appetite.
Church urged Herring to pursue other medication or treatment.
Herring, who has already been in jail for eight months, said he has learned “to think before I speak.”