Steven Ploof, former chief deputy in Orleans, pleads guilty to reckless endangerment

Steven Ploof

ROCHESTER – Steven Ploof, who briefly was chief deputy of the Orleans County Sheriff’s Office in 2023, pleaded guilty last Thursday to reckless endangerment in Monroe County. He allegedly threatened an FBI agent.

Ploof, 48, on Sept. 15 also was charged with attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, two counts of menacing a police officer, three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, and resisting arrest.

Ploof, who worked 16 years for the Ogden Police Department, resigned from the Orleans County 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 was accused of threatening an FBI agent after he allegedly left posters with threatening messages on the porch of an FBI agent assigned to FBI’s Rochester Resident Agency, Channel 10 reported.

While executing a state search warrant, Greece Police officers also found a threatening message towards the FBI written on Ploof’s bedroom wall.

Greece officers saw Ploof on Sept. 15 when they were doing a welfare check on him. Ploof then tried to hit them with his car, and attempted to turn a spray can into a makeshift torch, and had a machete.

The officers tased Ploof, detained him, and brought him to Rochester General Hospital. The next day, Ploof had escaped from the hospital, which prompted a lockdown.

Ploof also threatened his own family members, and made threats at his apartment complex, Channel 10 reported.

Ploof is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 5.