Albion woman, 71, pleads guilty to felonies and will face prison sentence
ALBION – An Albion woman pleaded guilty to three crimes today in Orleans County Court and will face state prison when she is sentenced on Oct. 19.
Elsie Biaselli, 71, of East State Street admitted to violating probation, and two counts of offering a false instrument.
Biaselli has a prior conviction of promoting prison contraband for allegedly smuggling illegal drugs in to inside Attica Correctional Facility, where her grandson was an inmate. Biaselli was sentenced to five years on probation in 2013.
She violated her probation by not disclosing she was a convicted felon on an application for a pistol permit.
She told Judge James Punch today she “had problems remembering” that she was a convicted felon when she filled out the pistol permit application in February.
But Punch didn’t believe her and said she could instead go to trial and face up to 7 years in state prison.
“If you’re going to play games with me I’m not going to do it,” Punch told her in court. “Let’s get off the baloney here.”
Biaselli responded, “I lied,” in reference to the pistol permit application.
“You did with the intent to defraud the government?” Punch pressed.
“Yes,” she answered.
Biaselli also admitted to filing a false instrument by making a false statement on a welfare application, claiming a grandchild was a dependent who doesn’t live with her.
Biaselli told the judge she thought her granddaughter, who was living out of state, would move in with her. But Punch said the application asked if there were dependents living with her at the time of the application.
“So you lied?” Punch asked her.
“I guess so,” responded Biaselli.
“So you could defraud the government?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You did it so you could cheat them and get more money in your pocket?” the judge asked. “Is that right, ma’am?”
“Yes,” Biaselli said.
The admission to felonies represents a “significant violation of probation,” Punch said.
Because Biaselli is a second felony offender, the judge said he can not sentence her to probation or county jail. She will be sentenced to state prison on Oct. 19 with 2 to 4 years the maximum.
