Holley man sentenced to prison for taking prized coins

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 April 2014 at 12:00 am

ALBION – A Holley man was sentenced to 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison for taking valuable coins from a Kendall resident on Oct. 22.

James Calus, 42, of Perry Street pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in the third degree. He has a prior record, but his attorney Shirley Gorman said the previous crimes were more than 20 years ago.

Calus took the coins to help pay for college tuition for his girlfriend’s son, and to help with family bills, Gorman told County Court Judge James Punch.

“It wasn’t for drugs or gambling,” she said.

Calus took the coins not knowing how valuable they were, Gorman said. The victim in the crime asked Punch to sentence Calus to weekends in jail so he could work and pay towards restitution.

But Punch said the seriousness of crime warranted state prison.

“Just because you need money doesn’t give you the right to wander into someone else’s property and take their hard-earned property,” the judge said during sentencing on Monday.


In other cases in county court:

A Medina man was sentenced to 1 to 3 years in state prison for felony aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and driving while intoxicated.

Milton Hinkley III, 41, of Glenwood Avenue was charged with DWI and AUO after he was stopped on May 18, 2013 on Glenwood Avenue.

He had been on Probation three times and “apparently it’s had no effect,” Punch said. Hinkley has a prior DWI in 1999.

An inmate at Orleans Correctional Facility was sentenced to another year in prison for promoting prison contraband.

Jason Seifert, 28, has been at the prison in Albion since April 23, 2010. He pleaded guilty to promoting prison contraband when he received a controlled substance, the drug buprenorphine, in the mail from his mother.

His mother, Tracey Stratton, 51, of Vermont last week was sentenced to a year in county jail for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.

A Kent man was sent to jail on $15,000 bail. Daniel Flanagan, 28, of Bills Road appeared in court after a bench warrant was issued for his arrest for missing a previous scheduled appearance.

He faces charges of DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle after being stopped Dec. 7 on East State Street in Albion.

An Albion man was arraigned for violation of probation and jailed on $20,000 bail. Dennis Calkins, 34, faces more serious charges but they are yet to be brought before the grand jury.

Calkins on Feb. 13 allegedly jumped from a moving vehicle and fled police on foot. He was wanted on a parole warrant. Albion police and Orleans County Sheriff’s deputies found a backpack full of ingredients for making methamphetamine in the back seat of the car he was driving.

Calkins was charged with felony unlawful manufacturing or possession of meth or meth lab materials, punishable by up to seven years in prison, and misdemeanor counts of obstruction of governmental administration and possession of a hypodermic instrument.

Police also charged him with use of a car without an Interlock device, reckless driving, aggravated unlicensed operation, unlawful fleeing from a police officer and resisting arrest.