ALBION – Zachary Natale, 32, was given the maximum 13-year sentence today by Orleans County Court Judge Sanford Church.

Natale pleaded guilty to attempted arson in the second degree during court on Jan. 28 and admitted to setting a fire on Dec. 17, 2024 at 207 Bates Rd. That fire forced a mother and her 9-year-old son to evacuate.

That mother spoke in court today, saying she now constantly fears for her safety and doubts she will ever feel peace again after being forced to flee her home of 15 years.

Natale was ordered to pay $270,000 in restitution to an insurance company and also the $1,000 deductible for the damages from the fire.

Susan Howard, the district attorney, said Natale caused a “terrifying, horrifying ordeal” for the victims where they could have been killed, and also put local firefighters in danger.

Joanne Best, the public defender, said Natale is bipolar and schizophrenic and also was using drugs at the time of the crime. He spent nearly five months at the Rochester Psychiatric Center and has been restored (deemed competent to stand trial), Best said. He has also spent 304 days in the Orleans County Jail.

She said Natale takes full responsibility for the crime, but she asked the judge to not sentence him the full 13 years. She asked for eight years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. The sooner he gets out of prison, the sooner he can pay towards restitution, Best said.

She said Natale has a young son and received an award from the County Legislature for helping save the life of a person incarcerated in the county jail on Feb. 10, 2025 when he alerted corrections officer to an inmate who hanging in his cell. COs were able to get to the inmate in time to save his life.

“He is also a very caring and compassionate individual,” Best said about Natale.

Natale in court today apologized to the victims of the arson, and also to the responding firefighters.

“I see the damage I did,” he said. “There really is no explanation for it. I’m trying to do the best I can. My son doesn’t deserve to be without a father.”

Judge Church gave Natale the full 13 years, plus 5 years of post-release supervision as well as the restitution. The judge said Natale has a criminal history and doesn’t seem to be taken full responsibility for the danger he put people in who were in the duplex.

Press Release, United States Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, Western District of New York

BUFFALO – U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that Norman Kelly, 69, of Albion, who was convicted of receipt of child pornography, was sentenced to serve 144 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maeve E. Huggins, who handled the case, stated that on October 20, 2023, Kelly arrived at the Port of Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, on a flight from Incheon, South Korea.

During an inspection of his baggage, Kelly removed a cellular phone from his pocket, and had a computer bag, which contained a laptop computer, and four USB thumb drives. Due to a lack of eye contact during questioning, inconsistencies in his travel story, and nervous behavior, the devices were authorized to be examined.

A Customs and Border Protection officer examined the cell phone, laptop and one of the thumb drives and discovered what appeared to be suspected child pornography. Subsequent investigation determined that between March 12 and September 20, 2023, Kelly used his laptop computer to entice minors to engage in sexually explicit behavior for the purpose of producing images, which he would receive via the internet.

On March 12, 2023, Kelly received a sexually explicit image of a female child, approximately 10-12 years old. On July 20, 2023, he received a sexually explicit video file of an infant female, approximately 1.5 to three years old.

Kelly possessed approximately 475 image files and 377 video files of child sexual abuse material. Some of the images included depictions of violence against children.

The sentencing is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Erin Keegan. Additional assistance was provided by Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit, Michigan.

Harriger was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2015 after being convicted in trial

File photo by Tom Rivers: Roy Harriger, a former local pastor, walks to Orleans County Court on April 6, 2015, when he was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

ALDEN – Roy Harriger, a former prominent local pastor serving a 15-year prison sentence for sexually abusing children, died on March 26 at Wende Correctional Facility. He was 82.

Harriger was convicted by a jury in 2015 of child molestation. During his sentencing on April 6, 2015, Harriger was called “a wolf in shepherd’s clothing,” by then Orleans County Court Judge James Punch.

Harriger was pastor of the Ashwood Wesleyan Church in Lyndonville for 12 years before he was terminated by the church in 2009 after a falling out with denomination leaders. He was accused of abusing his grandchildren in 2002 and 2001.

After the falling out at Ashwood, Harriger started a new church, Community Fellowship Church in Johnson Creek, which is in Niagara County. Many of members of Community Fellowship attended his trial and court dates in 2015 in support of their pastor, who denied any wrongdoing.

Three of his grandchildren testified during his trial in January 2015 that he had molested them.

“He’s had a tremendous impact on the people he has victimized,” Joe Cardone, the district attorney then, said at sentencing. “It’s made this entire family dysfunctional.”

Harriger could have faced a 25-year sentence for his crimes. Judge Punch gave him 15 years total in prison plus another 10 years of post-release supervision.

Harriger’s son George and Harriger’s sister Nona also told reporters them were sexually abused by Harriger when they were children. His sister said his crimes go back 60 years.

Judge Punch said Harriger used his position as a pastor, as a leader in his family and the community, to try to silence the victims.

“The bullying, the use of charisma, the power of your personality were all brought forward to victimize these children and keep them quiet,” Punch said.

He said it was a breach of trust to Harriger’s family, friends, the church and the grandchildren.

Harriger was convicted again in a Pennsylvania court in February 2017 for sexually molesting his niece when she was 6 to 11 years old. Those crimes occurred when Harriger was leading the Mercer Community Church of the Nazarene in Mercer County, Pa. He was pastor there from 1991 to 1997.

He was charged with rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and indecent assault. Harriger was sentenced to 2 to 5 years in prison for the crimes in Pennsylvania, with the sentence to be served concurrently with the New York sentence.

Daniel Martuscello III, commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, advised in a Feb. 25 letter to Orleans County DA Susan Howard that Harriger was suffering from a terminal condition and would be eligible for medical parole.

Howard, in a letter to the DOCCS commissioner on March 13, opposed the release from prison. She urged the Board of Parole not to grant the medical parole. She said she spoke with Harriger’s victims and they were “horrified” about him getting out of prison early, saying he could abuse other children.

The victims told Howard that Harriger planned to fake a stroke if he was ever sent to prison.

“The crimes of this man shook our small community to its core,” Howard wrote in her letter. “In addition to that of his own family, he violated the trust of many, many people who attended his church. He did not take responsibility for his actions, and dragged our office, his victims and the community through a trial. He showed no remorse for his actions. The lives he destroyed far outweigh the years he has left, which should be lived out incarcerated in prison.”

The Rev. Dr. Ashley Casanova is pastor of the Family of God, a church in Middleport. She also is Harriger’s niece who was sexually abused by him in Pennsylvania.

She said today is hopeful Harriger’s death can help the family “completely heal.”

Harriger’s victims were contacted about a month ago about a possible early medical release. Casanova opposed his release. In a letter to Martuscello on March 13, she asked that Harriger stay in prison, and cited the “heinous acts he committed against me.”

She said he violated trust, faith and safety of family and friends.

“The impact of what he did has been devastating, profound, and far-reaching. It has affected every area of my life and every part of who I am,” she said in her letter. “Releasing Roy Harriger would reopen wounds that many of us have spent years and I mean years trying to heal. It would send a painful message that the lifelong suffering of victims carries less weight than the remaining years of the person who caused it. I fear the emotional harm his release would cause and the potential risk to others, especially children.”

Casanova said she wants to be involved in a prison ministry where she can connect with women in prison who have been sexually abused, and help them find God’s healing in the process. Many victims will often turn to drugs and crime due to the violations and betrayals of trust they’ve suffered, she said.

Her Christian faith led her through the devastation she experienced from her uncle.

“I’m a walking, breathing testimony,” she said. “It is by God’s grace and mercy that I am where I am today. I want our family to know that this chapter and this season of our life is over and we can move on to the next chapter God has for us.”

Harriger sued the state in 2019 and won, and was awarded $2 million by the NYS Court of Appeals after being injured by corrections officers at Attica Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison. He was hit in the back of the head with a baton, leaving him unconscious. The court ruled Harriger was assaulted and the unwarranted use of  excessive force at Attica Correctional caused his injuries.

Casanova said Harriger didn’t receive that money and there is a dispute within the family on who is entitled to it.

ALBION – An incarcerated man at the Orleans Correctional Facility had 2 to 4 years added to his sentence in Orleans County Court today.

Callin LeMon, 36, was sentenced for promoting prison contraband and criminal possession of a weapon.

LeMon on April 29, 2025 had a black ceramic razor blade and a leafy substance. He is currently serving an 8- to 10-year sentence for criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a weapon. He is from Ulster County.

County Court Judge Sanford Church gave LeMon the agreed upon sentence as part of a plea agreement.

In other cases in County Court today:

• Chantel Savage, a former inmate at Albion Correctional Facility, was arraigned for allegedly having a piece of iron and striking a corrections officer with it in the head on Jan. 1, 2025.

Savage was arraigned for assault in the second degree, promoting prison contraband and criminal possession of a weapon.

Her attorney asked for a competency exam and Judge Church agreed to have her assessed for whether she is mentally competent to aid in her own defense.

• Elizabeth Jackson, 31, an inmate at Albion Correctional Facility, was arraigned for promoting prison contraband and criminal possession of a controlled substance for allegedly having 20 pills of meth that were disguised to look like Flintstone vitamins.

Jackson is from Broome County and in prison for grand larceny in the third degree on a sentence of 3 ½ to 7 years.

• Jose Casiano, 69, of Gaines was scheduled to be sentenced to up to six months in the county jail plus probation after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree and driving while ability impaired.

But Casiano has been arrested twice in the past week. A stipulation of his plea agreement on Jan. 7 was not to have any additional arrests.

Casiano on March 20 was charged with criminal possession of a controlled in the seventh degree and on March 24 was charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs.

Judge Church will have an Outley hearing on Friday with Casiano, a hearing for someone who is arrested after a plea agreement has been reached. Church said Casiano could be sentenced to up to 2 ½ years in state prison.

Judge orders restitution to be paid after theft

ALBION – For the first six months last year, a Batavia man stole nearly $50,000 in lottery tickets from Van’s Pit Stop, a gas station and convenience store in Clarendon.

Zachary C. Johnson, 35, of Batavia worked at Van’s for about two years. Van’s owner Jeremy Van Ameron noticed the scratch-off tickets were going fast, but yet the revenue wasn’t there to match the tickets that were out of the machine. He put in a security camera and saw an employee was taking the tickets.

Johnson on June 30, 2025 was charged with third-degree grand larceny by the State Police. He was sentenced today in Orleans County Court by Judge Sanford Church. Johnson needs to pay back $49,000 in restitution for the stolen lottery tickets. He will spend four months doing weekends in the county jail and also will be on probation for five years.

He needs to pay at least $400 a week in restitution to Van’s Pit Stop.

Jeremy Van Ameron, owner of the business the past six years, said the theft hurt the finances of the locally owned business and has shaken his trust in people.

Johnson, speaking at his sentencing, apologized to the Van Ameron family.

He pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny in a previous court appearance.

With weekends in jail, he will be able to work full-time and pay towards the restitution. The judge gave him until April 1, 2030 to make full restitution. There is a 5 percent surcharge on each payment, which goes to probation and then will be directed to Van’s. If Johnson pays the $400 each week, he should have the restitution paid off in less than three years.

In another case in county court today, Michael White, 22, of Albion pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.

White was charged on Sept. 16 after he allegedly had a 20-round magazine in his backpack and pulled his hands away when law enforcement attempted to handcuff him. He also allegedly tried to strike an officer with his elbows.

White admitted in court today to having the large-capacity device that could hold more than 20 rounds.

He faces a split sentence of jail and probation when he is sentenced on May 20.

ALBION – Two people were sentenced to incarceration today in Orleans County Court.

Reginald Lucas, 37, of Albion was given a 1- to 3-year in state prison after he committed several probation violations.

Judge Sanford Church revoked probation for Lucas, who was on probation for third-degree burglary. He admitted to failing to report to probation four times, not maintaining gainful employment, not going to substance abuse counseling or completing anger management counseling through a certified provider.

Lucas has already been in the jail for 240 days. His attorney, public defender Joanne Best, asked the judge consider time served as the sentence or up to a year in the county jail. She said Lucas has completed classes in the jail and has been working to better himself.

“I apologize for my actions that got me here,” Lucas told the judge. “I’m deeply ashamed. I take responsibility for my actions. I’m working very hard at change.”

Judge Church gave Lucas a state prison sentence, saying he did very little to meet the terms of being on probation.

• In other cases, Austin Buzard, 27, of Carlton was sentenced to up to 364 days in the county jail for probation violations. Buzard was on probation after being convicted of second-degree attempted assault. He admitted to using cocaine, consuming THC, not being truthful with probation, being dismissed from two domestic violence counseling programs, and other violations.

“I’m sorry,” Buzard told the judge during sentencing. “I’m trying to do better in my life.”

• Richard Neal, 36, of Medina was arraigned for felony driving while intoxicated and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was charged by State Police on Aug. 25 after allegedly driving a motorcycle on Route 31 in Ridgeway while intoxicated and without a license.

• The judge issued a warrant for Devon A. Robinson, 32, of Rochester who was scheduled to be sentenced but didn’t show up in court.

Robinson faced up to five years in state prison for criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree. He admitted in a prior court appearance to having an ATV valued at more than $3,000 that he knew was stolen. The Arctic Cat ATV was taken from Hulberton Road in Holley on July 26, 2024.

Melissa Ierlan

ALBION – Melissa Ierlan was offered a plea deal today where she would not face any jail or prison time in a felony grand larceny case. She would need to pay full restitution, a figure determined to be $102,752 by the state comptroller’s office.

Ierlan, who worked many years as the Clarendon code enforcement officer and cemetery administrator, also has been president of the Clarendon Historical Society. In the Historical Society role she is alleged to have falsified records to steal $102,752.

On Dec. 30, she was charged with first-degree and second-degree grand larceny with property value exceeding $50,000. The most serious charge carries a maximum of 5 to 15 years in state prison.

As part of a plea offer today, if she pleads guilty to one count of fourth-degree grand larceny, she would not face incarceration. The offer was presented by Assistant District Attorney Daniel Punch.

Ierlan appeared in court with her attorney, George Muscato. He asked for time to consider the offer. Ierlan wasn’t given a date for her next court appearance.

Ierlan appeared this morning before County Court Judge Sanford Church, who is serving as acting town court judge because the Clarendon Town Justice Thomas DiFante recused himself.

The case remains at the local court level and not at County Court. If Ierlan declines the plea offer, the case is expected to go to the grand jury which could issue an indictment and put the case at the county court level.

The criminal complaint against Ierlan says she took more than $50,000 from the Clarendon Historical Society between Dec. 16, 2020 and Sept. 27, 2025 while acting as president and financial controller.

Ierlan is accused of falsifying meeting minutes in order to collect on a $102,752 life insurance policy of a community member who died.

Steven Ploof

ROCHESTER – Steven Ploof, who briefly was chief deputy of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office in 2023, could be sentenced to up to six years in prison and fined up to $250,000.

Ploof on Thursday in federal court pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Meredith A. Vacca to threatening to assault a member of the immediate family of a federal law enforcement officer. Ploof did so with intent to impede with the law enforcement officer while engaged in the performance of official duties, or with intent to retaliate against such law enforcement officer on account of the performance of official duties, said U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo of the Western District of New York.

Ploof, who worked 16 years for the Ogden Police Department, resigned from the Orleans County in June 2023 after being put on administrative leave relating to suspected drug use, according to Channel 10 News in Rochester. As chief deputy he was tasked with providing oversight of the Civil Division and the numerous local, state and federal grants managed by the Sheriff’s Office.

Ploof on September 15, 2025, went to the Ogden residence of an FBI special agent and his family. When he arrived at the house, Ploof placed two posterboard signs on the front porch. One sign read “Corrupt FBI AGENT!” and the other sign read “I Want To (expletive) Your Kids!” Video of Ploof placing the two signs on the front porch was obtained from a residential security system, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Everardo A. Rodriguez, who is handling the case.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Greece Police Department, Ogden Police Department and the Orleans County Sherriff’s Office.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 18 before Judge Vacca.

ALBION – A Medina man currently in state prison pleaded guilty in Orleans County Court on Wednesday to attempted assault, an E felony, to two jail corrections officers.

Patrick Casanova, 32, is currently serving a 2- to 4-year sentence in state prison at Five Points Correctional facility in Romulus, Seneca County. His earliest release date is listed as May 27, 2027.

His plea on Wednesday could add another 1 ½ to 3 years in state prison. Casanova was in the county jail on June 13, 2025 when he allegedly refused to move and stiffed up. That required two corrections officers to try to move him. A scuffle then ensued.

Casanova is currently in prison after pleaded guilty in 2023 to second-degree assault. He admitted to punching a woman in the face, which fractured her orbital bone and damaged her sinus.

In other cases in County Court on Wednesday:

• A Medina man was arraigned on second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon after being charged for having a loaded “ghost” gun.

Reginald Kendrick, 50, was charged after law enforcement on Nov. 12 seized a loaded unbranded polymer “ghost” semi-automatic 9 mm pistol with an extended 30-round magazine.

Kendrick is a prior felon after being convicted of selling cocaine in October 2016.

He pleaded not guilty to the new charges in court on Wednesday. He has posted $1,000 bail.

• Daniel Fritz III, 37, of Clarendon was assessed as a level 3 sex offender by Orleans County Judge Sanford Church.

Fritz is currently at the Mohawk Correctional Facility  in Rome, Oneida County, serving a 2- to 4-year sentence for grand larceny. He and a co-defendant were convicted of taking a safe from a Clarendon home that had cash and jewelry inside.

Fritz also pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct. The judge assessed Fritz as level 3, the highest level, and he will need to be monitored when he is released from prison.

MEDINA – Two men from Medina were sentenced to state prison today by Orleans County Court Judge Sanford Church.

Nasir Shine, 23, of Medina was sentenced to five years in prison plus five years of post-release supervision for possessing a weapon while on federal probation.

Shine allegedly had a Glock-style pistol with 21 bullets on Aug. 25, 2025. Medina police were dispatched to 751 Church St. that day after a caller reported a man had pulled a gun and threatened multiple individuals. Medina police detained Shine, who had the Glock-style pistol with an extended magazine in a backpack.

Shine was probation after being convicted in 2022 for being part of a fentanyl distribution network with his mother Ebony Shine and his brother Emmanual Taylor.

Another Medina man was sentenced to 1 ½ to 3 years in prison for assault after allegedly stabbing another person on Nov. 7, 2024.

Deante Johnson, 22, was allegedly in a fight in the parking lots outside Cusimano’s Pizzeria and the Medina Inn on Maple Ridge Road. Johnson allegedly stabbed another person in the side who was transported by ambulance to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. That victim was treated and released.

Johnson’s case has been slowed in the court system after he spent 261 days in the Rochester Psychiatric Center after a psychiatric evaluation in January 2025 said he was incompetent to stand trial. He also has spent more than 200 days in the Orleans County Jail.

His attorney, Public Defender Joanne Best, asked Judge Church to give Johnson time served in the case and not have him go into the state prison system.

She said Johnson’s mental health is much improved, and he would stay on his medication and get counseling if he allowed to be in the community and not face additional incarceration

Judge Church said the state prison sentence of 1 ½ to 3 years was the minimum he could do given Johnson’s prior felony history for attempted assault in 2022.

The judge also revoked Johnson’s probation and sentenced him to 364 days in the county jail for violating probation. That sentence can be served concurrently with the state prison sentence. The judge said the time at the county jail and psychiatric center can count towards the sentence if that is deemed appropriate by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.