Judge weighs whether sex offender should be level 2 or 3
ALBION – The point system for determining whether a sex offender should be level 2 or 3 says a Medina man should be at the lower level of 2.
However, Patrick Sewar, 26, had multiple victims who were children, and that prompted a Genesee County judge to deem Sewar a Level 3 offender on Wednesday.
Sewar was convicted of sex abuse charges in both Orleans and Genesee counties. He will be released next month from the Wyoming Correctional Facility after serving four years of a five-year prison sentence.
As part of his impending release, Sewar is evaluated through the Sex Offender Registration Act to determine his level.
The state Board of Examiners suggested that Sewar be a Level 2 offender based on a point system. Joanne Best, the public defender in Orleans County, asked County Court Judge Sanford Church on Thursday to have Sewar be a Level 2 offender. Sewar while in prison learned strategies to fight his sexual urges.
District Attorney Joe Cardone asked for the Level 3, saying Sewar used sex as a coping mechanism and displayed “escalating behavior.” One of the victims was subjected to years of abuse by Sewar, Cardone said.
However, in that case Sewar’s conviction was a misdemeanor because several years elapsed from when the abuse occurred and when he was charged. He was also 15 at the time when he sexually assaulted a 6-year-old child in 2006. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and determined to be a Level 2 offender.
It wasn’t long after the misdemeanor conviction that Sewar was charged in Genesee County and accused of molesting a child under 11 at Darien in July 2013.
Sewar’s actions in the cases all fall below a Level 3 offender, Best said. She urged the judge to follow the point system in determining the levels.
“To say somehow the formula is incorrect and there should be a departure I don’t believe that is appropriate in this case,” Best told Judge Church.
A Level 2 offender has a moderate risk of reoffending while a Level 3 is considered to be a high risk. The higher the level, the more monitoring and more information that has to be provided to the community about the sex offender, although both Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are listed on a website.
Sewar said he plans to live at the Holley Hotel when he is released from prison and wants to get a job.
Judge Church said he will review the case and make a decision by late June.
In other cases in County Court on Thursday:
• A Medina resident is being held without bail while awaiting sentencing for criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Patrick Casanova, 24, was to be sentenced on June 21 but that has been moved back to Aug. 2.
The probation department wasn’t able to work on a presentencing report because Casanova failed to go to appointments with the probation staff.
His attorney, Public Defender Joanne Best, said Casanova wasn’t living at the Niagara Falls address where mail was sent by probation. He also has lived on North Main Street in Medina. Casanova couldn’t be reached by phone because his phone is being held by the Medina Police Department.
He faces the weapons charge after allegedly discharging a gun on Dec. 10, 2017 at O’Brien’s Tavern on Main Street. Casanova wasn’t targeting anyone when he fired the gun into the ceiling, police said.
Casanova has been incarcerated since May 13 when he allegedly was involved in a knife fight on Church Street in Medina with his brother, Cardone told the court. When Casanova was taken into custody by police, he allegedly kicked the window in the police car, causing damage, Cardone said. Casanova hasn’t been charged for the latest incident in Medina.
Judge Church told Casanova to go to any appointments and cooperate with the probation department before the sentencing on Aug. 2.
• A Kendall man admitted violating conditions of his probation and could be sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison as part of a plea deal. Steven Gregory, 27, of Kendall Road is on probation after being convicted of driving while ability impaired by drugs in Livingston County in 2017.
On March 6, he was charged with driving while intoxicated in the Town of Greece with a Blood Alcohol Content of 0.17 percent, more than double the legal amount. Gregory also was found to have violated terms of his probation by driving without a license, driving without an interlock ignition device and consuming vodka.
Judge Church found Gregory committed substantial violations to his probation. Gregory will be sentenced on July 9 and will face a maximum of 1 to 3 years in prison.
• The judge set bail at $25,000 for an inmate at the Albion Correctional Facility facing charges of promoting prison contraband in the first degree.
Amanda Steurrys allegedly had suboxone mailed in a greeting card to prison. She was charged on April 2. She is currently serving a 1 to 3 year sentence for criminal contempt in the first degree. She is from Wayne County.
