COOPERSTOWN – Kimberly Steeley, the woman accused of smothering her twins Bonde and Liam in 2018, did so by falling asleep while in bed with the children, District Attorney John Muehl told Judge John Lambert during a suppression hearing in Otsego County Court on Monday.
“She told police she nodded off in bed with them,” he said. “She was reckless, and there is evidence that she was abusing prescription medication to the point of intoxication while she was caring for them.”
Muehl also asked that Steeley’s three DUI convictions, including one in the Town of Maryland in January 2018, five months before the twins’ deaths, should be used as evidence to her recklessness in her upcoming trial.
Dylan Robinson, 15, right, was in Otsego County Court this afternoon on charges that he murdered his father, Kenneth Robinson, 53, during a burglary at his home in Worcester. At left is Alexander Borgreen, 16, also accused in the crime. (Libby Cudmore/AllOTSEGO.com)
Also accused in the murder and burglary, first degree, were Alexander Borgreen, 16, and Anais Soto, 15.
All three are Oneonta High School students.
“The facts established that Robinson, Borgreen and Soto were in the residence at the time of the shooting,” District Attorney John Muehl told County Judge John Lambert. “They all had weapons. It doesn’t matter that some of them didn’t pull the trigger; they’re just as guilty.”
Stephanie Shulgay leaves a county courtroom today after pleading not guilty to theft charges. (Libby Cudmore/AllOTSEGO.com)
COOPERSTOWN – A former home health aide was arraigned in Otsego County Court today on charges that she stole more than $33,000 from an elderly couple over 15 months when they were in her care.
Stephanie Shulgay, 32, plead “Not guilty” to the third-degree grand larceny charges, filed by a grand jury. It is alleged that she stole the money from the couple by using their credit and debit cards between July 2017 and October 2018, while working as a home health aide.
“You can’t just breach someone’s trust like that,” said District Attorney John Muehl.
According to the Otsego County Sheriff’s Department, Shulgay allegedly used the money to pay bills for herself and an elderly uncle.
A shower stall with peeling paint and missing tiles was one of the images contained in a report that followed the city’s Code Enforce Office report on 195 Main St. after a Tuesday, Jan. 15, inspection.
ONEONTA – The waiting game is coming to an end.
Merzig
City Attorney David Merzig and building owner Melania Pervu met with County Judge John F. Lambert’s law clerk in Cooperstown this morning, following the release of the inspection report into the former Oneonta Hotel at 195 Main St. that showed filthy bathrooms, holes in walls and ceilings and tiles covering the sprinkler system.
According to Merzig, the clerk recommended that the city bring an Order to Show Cause to the judge, recommending punishment for the Pervus – Melania and her husband Nicolae – for failing to comply with Lambert’s September order that the building be brought up to code by Jan. 11. The order will then be presented to the judge for his ruling.
The former Oneonta Hotel was declared “unsafe” by City Hall in late 2017. A recent inspection found that enough violations still exist that the city wants County Judge John Lambert to enforce the Order to Vacate put in place at that time. (Ian Austin/AllOTSEGO.com)
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
MerzigPervu
ONEONTA – Citing missing kitchen appliances, holes in the ceiling and a blocked sprinkler system, among nearly a dozen pages of code violations, the City will argue that Melania Pervu, owner of the former Oneonta Hotel at 195 Main St., has failed to remedy the unsafe conditions of her building, as ordered by County Judge John Lambert last September.
“There are still considerable violations,” said Mayor Gary Herzig. “We have an obligation to make sure everybody in the city lives in a building deemed safe.”
With the court-imposed deadline of Jan. 11 passed, Judge John F. Lambert has requested a meeting with the city and Pervu at 10 a.m Friday, Jan. 25. “We will present the fact that our inspection shows outstanding violations,” said Herzig. “We took a number of photographs to demonstrate our concern.”
With wife Katie holding the Bible, County Judge John Lambert of Cooperstown, top, prepares to be sworn in for a second 10-year term by his colleague, County Judge Brian Burns of Oneonta, right, this afternoon in the Foothills Atrium in Oneonta. At left are the Lamberts’ children, Anna and Charlie. At right, county Sheriff Richard J. Devlin Jr. of Milford is sworn in by Lambert. Next to the sheriff is his father, Richard J. Devlin Sr. Also sworn in were state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, new county Coroners David Delker and Christian Shaefer, and Assemblyman John Salka, R-Brookfield.
The former Oneonta Hotel, 195 Main St., in its glory days during the first half of the 20th Century.
ONEONTA – In an order by county Judge John Lambert, owner Melania Pervu must make all repairs to the building at 195 Main St. before the Jan. 11, 2019 deadline or she could be held in contempt of court, according to a decision made Friday, Dec. 7.
“The city believes she violated the order, but understands the reluctance to issue a vacancy order before Christmas,” said City Attorney David Merzig.
Oneonta Hotel owner Melania Pervu, above, was back in county court in Cooperstown this morning after City Hall declared she had not met an Oct. 15 deadline to apply for building permits for all the deficiencies building inspectors had identified in the five-story structure at 195 Main St. County Judge John Lambert said he would issue a decision in this latest development by week’s end. Lambert had also presided at a Sept. 7 hearing where he outlined a schedule of improvements the Pervus – the wife and husband Nicolae – must make to forestall condemnation in early January. Inset, City Attorney David Merzig, left, waits as Lambert acts on a number of criminal cases before getting to the Oneonta Hotel. (Libby Cudmore and Jim Kevlin, www.AllOTSEGO.com)
COOPERSTOWN – County Judge John Lambert, who is also longtime assistant varsity basketball coach at Cooperstown Central School, has won this year’s Fetterman Award.
The Fetterman Award is presented annually by the Clark Sports Center, recognizing service to youth in the field of athletics. Such Cooperstown legends as Beanie Ainslie, Ted Kantorowski, Don Howard and Dick White have won it, as did Lambert’s father Paul, the retired superintendent who passed away in January.
COOPERSTOWN – Paul J. Lambert, former Cooperstown Central School principal and superintendent of schools and later director of the Clark Foundation Scholarship Program, as well as a coach and well-respected member of the community, passed away late Wednesday night, Dec. 27, 2017, at Bassett Hospital.
A loving and supportive husband, father and grandfather, he was 87.
Born March 24, 1930, in Sayre, Pa., he was one of nine children of Harry F. and Mary A. (Murphy) Lambert.
A graduate of Athens High School, he attended Hartwick College, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history.
