Blocks entrance of store during robbery
LATHAM – A 43-year-old Oceanside man faces multiple charges after he used a car to allegedly rob the Home Depot at Latham farms on September 21.
According to police, Philip Sarner allegedly took items from the store past the point of sale and placed them outside the store. He then went to the parking lot.
“When the employees attempted to retrieve the items, he used the vehicle to force the employees back from the merchandise, then took it,” Colonie police Lt. Anthony Sidoti said.
Sarner also damaged the building with the car in the process, then left the scene.
On Wednesday, May 15, Colonie police took Sarner into custody at the Albany County Family Court Building on an open arrest warrant for the incident.
Sarner was charged with robbery – forcible theft with use of an instrument and criminal mischief, both felonies, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor.
He was arraigned by Colonie Town Judge Andrew Sommers and sent to the Albany County jail. A preliminary hearing is set for May 20.
Criminal contempt, assault
LATHAM – Colonie police contacted an Albany man on Wednesday, May 15 and picked him up to face charges from an incident on May 13.
According to reports, Daeshawn Drislane, 25, was transported back to the Colonie police station and charged with criminal contempt -first degree, a felony, and assault – intent to cause physical injury and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors.
He was processed and then arraigned by Judge Andrew Sommers. Drislane was released under supervision of probation. He will return to Colonie Town Court on May 29.
Baymont Hotel in violation of local law
COLONIE – The new destination for migrants moved from the Super 8 Motel in Rotterdam is two hotels in the Town of Colonie, one, the Surestay Hotel, already has one-year history with housing migrants and the other is the Baymont Inn and Suites on Airport Park Road.
According to Colonie police Deputy Chief Robert Winn, approximately 158 migrants had to move last week and initially they were spread out at different hotels in the Village and also at the Surestay.
On Friday, May 17, DocGo, the company managing the care of the migrants for New York City, consolidated the number of hotels to two, the Surestay and the Baymont.
More than 100 are now housed at the Baymont and more than 200 are at the Surestay, including 14 from the Super 8, he said.
The town is already in court with the Surestay over its local law limiting hotel stays to 28 days and requires the hotel to keep detailed records of who is in each room. This information must be shown to town officials upon request.
The Surestay was cited for violating the law last summer and the owners are fighting it in court.
“Once again Mayor Adams has sent migrants in the middle of the night to Colonie,” Town Supervisor said. “Taxpayers should know that they are paying not only for the housing of migrants, but to litigate against local towns, counties and cities.”
Crummey said that town officials visited the Baymont last week and management said that they did not keep the data set forth by the law and the business was told by DocGo that they did not need to follow the law.
“It is awful. I cannot understand why a good, local business would get in bed with DocGo,” Crummey said. “The town will enforce the law against the Baymont hotel.”
According to Crummey, DocGo originally booked rooms in other hotels under individual names, to disguise who they were and had to find alternative arrangements once the hotels balked.
“I give those motels credit. They made the right choice to not be any part of DocGo,” he said.
Crummey also said that over 100 calls to Colonie police came from the Surestay since migrants came there 12 months ago.
Police arrest Albany man for threats
LATHAM – On Sunday May 19 at approximately 8 pm, the Colonie police investigated a complaint of a voicemail stating that there were explosives placed at St. Pius Church, located at 75 Upper Loudon Rd.
Officers responded to and thoroughly searched both the church and the school which were free from any dangerous or suspicious items. School personnel were notified and an additional police presence was requested and placed at the school out of an abundance of caution.
A similar threat was made to the Planet Fitness located at 475 Albany Shaker Road with both calls originating from the same phone number. Planet Fitness was also searched and no explosives were found.
The Colonie police investigation, aided by our Federal, State, and Local law enforcement partners was able to identify the responsible party, Joshua B. Campbell, 28 of Albany.
Campbell was arrested Monday, May 20 at approximately 3:15 pm with the assistance of the Albany Police Department.
A search was conducted on Mr. Campbell’s person and home and no bomb making materials or explosives of any type were found. No evidence was found to indicate that Campbell took any actions towards carrying out the threats that he made, police said. “The Colonie Police Department takes these types of threats very seriously, and are grateful to all of our community and law enforcement partners that helped bring this to a swift and peaceful resolution,” police said in a release.
Campbell was charged with two counts of making a terrorist threat, a felony. He was arraigned in Colonie Town Court and sent to the Albany County jail in lieu of $30,000 cash bail pending a preliminary hearing.
Police said that this is still an active and ongoing investigation.
