Bloomfield, Conn. man faces felony DWI charges under Leandra’s Law
BETHLEHEM – A 39-year-old Connecticut man began the new year facing felony charges after a crash and alleged assault on a trooper.
According to State Police, at approximately 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1, troopers responded to a one-car crash on I-87 in Bethlehem. Alexander Rodriguez, 39, was identified as the driver. Police determined he was impaired by drugs and found a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle.
Under New York’s Leandra’s Law, a driver charged with DWI or DWAI-Drugs can face felony aggravated DWI charges if a child is in the vehicle. Leandra’s Law was named after Leandra Rosado, an 11-year-old girl killed in a 2009 car crash.
Rodriguez was taken into custody and was being transported to Latham for processing when he allegedly bit a trooper. One person in the vehicle crash also sustained injuries.
Rodriguez was charged with felony assault for intending to cause injury to an officer. He also faced charges of felony aggravated DWI for having a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle. Additionally, Rodriguez was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, and DWAI-Drugs, also a misdemeanor.
After a Bethlehem judge was unavailable, Rodriguez was arraigned in Colonie Town Court and sent to Albany County Jail with bail set at $15,000 cash, $20,000 bond, or $50,000 partially secured bond.
Fare dispute leads to warrant arrest
GLENMONT – A routine theft-of-services call led to the arrest of a woman with an active warrant.
On Saturday, Dec. 28, at approximately 9:41 p.m., Bethlehem police responded to the Comfort Inn on Route 9W for a report of a cab fare dispute. Upon arrival, officers learned that Carmen Squires, 31, of Coeymans, had allegedly failed to pay her fare and was inside one of the hotel rooms. The fee was settled on-site.
However, a DMV check revealed that Squires had an active arrest warrant from the Warren County Sheriff’s Department. She was transported to Clifton Park, where she was handed over to deputies from that department.
Employee charged with grand larceny
GLENMONT – Loss prevention employees at Marshalls on Feura Bush Road contacted Bethlehem police on Saturday, Dec. 28, after detaining an employee accused of grand larceny.
According to reports, Nakara Alston, 27, of Albany, was observed on surveillance footage using the price override feature at her cashier station to provide discounts to her friends. She also “free-bagged” unpaid merchandise into reusable bags and handed them to her friends. Alston admitted to creating new price tags to apply additional discounts, resulting in a financial loss to the store of $1,028.72. Police collected the surveillance footage as evidence.
Alston was charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony. She was released on an appearance ticket for Bethlehem Town Court on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
Woman is example of turnstile justice system
COLONIE– An Albany woman with a history of larcenies and not showing up for dozens of court appearances in the last three years, was caught allegedly stealing items from a local store that she was not supposed to be in.
According to reports, on Thursday, Dec. 26, Colonie police responded to Burlington Coat Factory on Central Avenue for a report of a larceny and found Nina Maldonado, 48, in custody by loss prevention employees at the store. Maldonado had at least one prior incident at the store and was banned from being there.
Maldonado was charged with burglary, a felony, because she was not allowed to be in the store and allegedly committed a crime, and also for petit larceny, a misdemeanor.
A check showed that Maldonado had four outstanding warrants from Colonie Town Court for not showing up. In April, she was the subject of a larceny in progress call at Walmart in Latham and had two outstanding warrants from March and in December 2021. Maldonado was also charged with petit larceny for that case.
She was arrested again on October 13, but this time at Target on Central Avenue for a larceny with another man, Frankie Maldonado, 32, who lives at the same address at Nina, who was arrested on an active outstanding Bench warrant as well. Frankie did not show up to Colonie Town Court in September 2022.
Both of them were out on bail and had active bench warrants at that time. They were charged with the new larceny and with bail jumping, but that didn’t change things.
She was released again for those charges and did not show up for court in November and was at large until last week.
This time, Nina Maldonado was sent to the Albany County jail as a pre-arraignment detainee and was arraigned by Colonie Judge David Green on December 27.
As of Monday, Jan. 6, she is listed as “in custody” at the Albany County jail.
