Medina woman, 27, could get 7 years in prison for selling stolen guns
ALBION – A Medina woman pleaded guilty in Orleans County Court on Monday to third-degree criminal sale of a firearm.
Rebecca Bischoff, 27, could get sentenced to a maximum of 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison when she is sentenced by Judge James Punch on March 31. She could also receive a lesser sentence.
She told Judge Punch she sold a stolen revolver from her boyfriend Christopher Hollenbeck, 27. She told the judge she knew it was stolen and sold it to someone in Medina. The revolver has since been recovered.
Bischoff and Hollenbeck were arrested after an investigation into a June 13 burglary of a Mill Road home in Ridgeway. Bischoff waited in the car while Hollenbeck entered the house and stole nine guns.
Hollenbeck pleaded guilty on Jan. 13 and also will be sentenced on March 31. He faces a maximum 2 1/3 to 7 years in state prison. He said he broke into the house using a credit card, took nine guns and defaced them. Bischoff drove him to the site and allegedly helped him sell the defaced guns.
In other cases in county court:
A Medina man pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and felony aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Milton Hinkley III, 41, of Glenwood Avenue was charged with DWI and AUO after he was stopped on May 18, 2013 on Glenwood Avenue.
Hinkley, has a prior DWI in 1999, District Attorney Joe Cardone said. Hinkley could receive a maximum of four years in state prison or he could receive a lesser sentence. Judge Punch will sentence Hinkley on March 31.
Two Medina men were offered plea deals that would put them in state prison for a maximum of five years.
Lorenzo Poole, 30, of Dresser Road and Jason Wills, 28, of Church Street both have been charged with second-degree assault, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in state prison.
The two were charged after an Oct. 27, 2013 incident at the parking lot of the Walsh Hotel in Medina when they each allegedly hit a man in the head with a beer bottle, causing a gash to the forehead and a broken nose.
Poole has four prior drug convictions, Cardone said, and Wills has a prior conviction.
An inmate at Orleans Correctional facility pleaded guilty to promoting prison contraband when he received a controlled substance, the drug buprenorphine, in the mail from his mother.
Jason Seifert, 28, has been at the Orleans Correctional Facility in Albion since April 23, 2010. He was sent to prison after being convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.
On Dec. 20, 2012, he received buprenorphine in the mail under the postage stamp. He didn’t have a prescription for the drug and he knew it was against the prison rules to have it, he told Judge Punch.
Seifert could face another year in jail, plus three years probation when he is sentenced on April 7.
His mother, Tracey Stratton, 51, of Vermont, has been charged with promoting prison contraband in the first degree and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the fourth degree. Her case is pending.
A state Canal Corporation worker accused of stealing $5,700 worth of metal from the Canal Corp.’s Albion maintenance facility was offered a reduced charge if he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and paid restitution.
Bruce Rotoli, 55, of Albion has been charged with third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. He was arrested in May following a four-month investigation by state police, Village of Albion police and the Thruway Authority, which runs the canal system.
Police say that Rotoli in the fall of 2012 removed bronze bushing material from the Albion maintenance facility. Rotoli is currently on disability.
The DA’s office has video from various scrap yards of Rotoli selling the stolen property, Assistant DA Susan Howard said in court on Monday. Rotoli’s case was adjourned.
An Oakfield woman pleaded guilty to two counts of drug possession. Serena L. Weber, 28, avoided jail and will enter Drug Court. She pleaded guilty to fifth-and-seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
